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Australian Camels
Dromedary camels.
Image Source: Michelle
Callinan / License under Creative
Commons 2.0
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Dromedary camels are found primarily in the Sahara Desert in North Africa and the
Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East. However the world's largest population of feral
dromedary camels, are in the western outback in Australia. [1] Between 1840 and 1907 thousand camels were
imported into Australia. These camels were used for riding, draft and pack animals,
and exploration. By performing these tasks camels first brought in the explorers,
surveyors and road builders. Then the settlers and industry followed. And finally
camels supplied critical goods to new settlements and remote mines. Their services
were essential to opening up the center of the continent to development. By the 1920s
there were an estimated 20,000 domesticated camels in Australia. By 1930 they had
done their work, and the new railroads and motor transportation system (roads), which
they helped build, replaced them. No longer needed but well suited to Australia's
arid interior deserts these feral camels bred prolifically across areas of the Northwest
Territory, Western Australia and South Australia, and into parts of Queensland. Today
by conservative estimates there are about 500,000 feral camels in central Australia.
Some estimates put the population at close to a million. [2]
A dromedary camel receiving a pet.
Image Source: "a
little azorean" / License under Creative
Commons 2.0
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x 600
On December 16, 2004 the Australian government allocated $854,000 to tackle feral
animals in Australia. [3] A feral species is one that has escaped, been accidentally released, or
has otherwise departed from domestication and returned, at least in part, to a wild
state. Examples of feral species include both the American mustang (horse), the Africanized
honey bee ("killer bee"), and of course the Australian feral camel. When
a feral species becomes damaging to its environment, threatening native plants and
animals, or posing new and significant problems to its human counterparts, then a
humble plant becomes a "weed," a pet kitten becomes a feral cat preying
upon native birds, or the Asian carp (fish) invades the Upper Mississippi River System
of the USA outcompeting the population of native fish. [4] As yet, the feral camel of Australia has not
had the impact upon Australia that the feral Asian carp has had upon the native species
of fish in North America, but it has been suggested that one method of controlling
a feral species is... "If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em," as suggested by
J. M. Franke in "The Invasive Species Cookbook: Conservation Through Gastronomy."
[5] Though the Australian feral camel now has little demand to be used as a
beast of burden in the Australian outback, it can be ridden as an Australian brombee
(horse) can be ridden, it can be a tourist attraction to photograph and ride, or
even eaten. In 2005, Peter Siedel, a spokesman for the Central Australian Camel Industry
Association, stated that the feral camel population of Australia doubles every eight
to ten years, so reducing central Australia's population by 25,000 per year by exporting
the camels to Muslim markets in Europe or the US for restaurant or supermarket consumption
as an alternate health meat, would contribute to halting the increase of Australian
feral herds. [6]
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