We have received an internet petition calling for the cessation of camel culling in inland Autralia. Our response is below.
The culling of camels has NOTHING to do with greenhouse gases; it is all about removing a destructive pest species from the environment. Camels are not the only pests – wild deer in East Gippsland are leading to the loss of plant species by their selective browsing, and wild pigs take lambs and calves as well as damaging wetlands by wallowing. As for rabbits… Camel proliferation is a major threat to inland native flora and fauna, and their removal is as essential as the removal of water buffaloes in the Top End. Small outback settlements were terrorized by large mobs of thirsty camels during the recent drought. Australia can use only comparatively few domestic camels, which can be bred in controlled conditions. At one time there was Middle Eastern interest in importing our healthy animals for breeding, but as our camel population is derived from pack camels, not racers, that fell through. Live export of camels to Middle Eastern meat markets would be as deplorable as the live export of sheep and cattle.
Brian and Anthea Fleming
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Gary,
I realise you are going away but I think you need to visit the centre and to really see what is happening. If you think there are more cattle out there than camels you are very mistaken. I worked on Newhaven for 6 months and saw how destructive cmels can be destroying fences, yards and waterholes as well as the vegetation. The researchers who worked there for over 20 years proved camels are doubling there numbers every 8 years so it will be catastrophic for the vegetation in the centre and consequently any birdlife.
Jan
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Camels produce methane in same way that sheep and cattle do. One camel obviously produces a fair bit more methane than one sheep. Kangaroos have a different digestive system, so don’t belch methane. Reducing camel numbers and increasing kangaroo numbers would certainly improve the emission equation.
Regards, Laurie.
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
A company called Northwest Carbon has put a submission to the federal government including a proposal that camel culling qualify for carbon credits due to the methane emissions avoided: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/submissions/~/media/submissions/cfi/127-northwest-carbon-pty-ltd-and-rangelands-nrm.pdf
Its not as impractical as it sounds as their are other benefits to culling camels, and we already do some culling for these reasons. So the marginal cost may be low and methane is a potent greenhouse gas in the short term.
But one obvious weakness is that even if camel culling is sufficient to maintain a lower camel density, and hence lower camel methane missions – you may allow higher density of other herbivores such as cattle which also emit methane.
Andrew
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I just found what looks to be an online version of this petition at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/999/725/689/
It reads: “Australia has the largest population of undiseased dromedary camels anywhere in the world. Now, the Australian government is proposing to slaughter the majority of them in the name of carbon control.
The camels produce an estimated one metric ton a year of greenhouse gasses, which is nothing compared to the emissions from Australia’s largely coal-powered industries. Just last year, Australia was responsible for 564 million metric tons of carbon emissions. Eradicating all the camels in the Outback wouldn’t even tip the scale.
The mass funding allocated towards camel extermination would be better spent sustainably reforming Australia’s carbon-emitting industries.
Ultimately, the mass camel cull would be nothing more than an expensive distraction from real change. Tell the Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, Mark Dreyfus, that killing camels is no way to take true action.”
Is this just nonsense, or has some politician mentioned greenhouse gases in relation to this?
Peter Shute
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Isn’t it to do with their rearwards emanations ?
Tony
I don’t want to down the impact of cattle but the first part of your statement is not true. There are definitely far more cattle in Australia (25+ million) than camels (1+ million) currently – but not in the centre of Australia. The maps below suggest camel biomass approaches that of cattle over a very large area and exceeds it at the centre of camel range. If I have my arithmetic right camel biomass exceeds kangaroo biomass over a good part of Australia too.
Andrew
http://www.nrm.gov.au/publications/factsheets/bp09-10/pubs/05-reducing-camels-distribution-map.pdf http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article232005?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1301.0&issue=2005&num=&view= ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Mark
I would say that one helpful thing you could do to protect the desert environment would be to stop eating cattle. There are many more cattle in outback Australia doing more damage than camels are doing simply because there are more of them. They also smash down vegetation and do all of the things that camels do. I am about to go offline as I am going away, not because I don’t want to take the response to my email.
Good birding Gary
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Could somebody please explain the reference to greenhouse gases? Is somebody suggesting this is why culling is required?
Peter Shute
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi all, Great to hear Mike’s well-reasoned argument on this, and I agree wholeheartedly! But it doesn’t just apply to camels, nor even only to ‘exotic’ pests.
When we humans act to interfere with nature such that one species is ‘adversely’ advantaged over another, then sometimes, we must have the courage to act to try to redress that balance. It might be camels in outback Australia, or it might be lyrebirds, kookaburras or some other ‘native’ Australian species introduced to areas where they do not belong, adversely affecting local or endemic species. Let’s not be prevented from taking unsavoury but necessary remedial action for the sake of the species which our human-induced imbalances have threatened.
Lest this seem to be all too ‘theoretical’: Our Primary Industries and Environment Department here in Tassie – DPIPWE – have been trying to organise a task-force and cull of introduced Rainbow Lorikeets, in an attempt to reduce potential feeding and nest-hollow pressures on the endangered Swift Parrot. I have been involved in helping with the campaign, and speaking out publicly in support of it. For this I have been roundly criticised, not only by “…deluded animal rights campaigners…” (Mike’s words), but also by some from within the Birds-Australia/Birding-Aus fraternity.
John Tongue Ulverstone, Tas.
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hi Brian,
I’m glad to see that someone out there understands this issue. Its one I’ve become quite passionate about through living in the outback and seeing the shocking impact these massive destructive animals are having on fragile desert lands. Its not as off topic as you might imagine: having seen remote waterholes which once provided a lifeline to breeding reed warblers, crakes & grebes completely wrecked by camel herds, not to mention all the long-lived quondong and pittosporum trees smashed as they search for browse I am convinced that their impact on desert birds is tangible and significant. I am increasingly horrified that deluded animal rights campaigners sometimes seem to be hijacking the debate which makes the politicians nervous about backing the cull. In recent years they have used every cynical argument to undermine the proposed cull, some of them even advocating sending the camels for halal slaughter as some sort of a ‘humane’ alternative to aerial shoots. Of course their goal isn’t to help out the camel meat trade- its simply to sabotage the cull. Despite all the talk, the camel meat industry is a pipe dream- it has never gotten off the ground for good reasons. I buy camel meat regularly but I must say the quality is extremely variable. Most Aussies don’t want to eat it and the much vaunted Arab markets for the meat have never materialised. The cull might seem like a waste to some from a distance but considering our desert soils are the least fertile on earth letting these huge animals be re-cycled back into the ecosystem is probably the best use for most of them. We cheerfully put blood and bone in our gardens but seem squeamish about doing the same for our deserts. I personally would like to see the camel fully eradicated. Presently, with no predators and no significant population containment pressure at all they are simply a plague species and have no place in the ecology of the outback. Our predecessors created this problem so we have a responsibility to sort it out.
Mark Carter Alice Springs ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Brian
I fully agree with most of your response. While it may never occur I think the camels should be completely eradicated and that there should be at least a policy for eradication of camels, and of course other ferals. There are some people who advocate harvesting the camels for the meat industry. I hear them calling jobs, jobs and don’t waste the resources. Inevitably it would then be in the camel meat industries interest to maintain a camel population forever and not eradicate them or even reduce numbers significantly.
Greg Little