A question for those in OZ

[Rusty]

I was listening to the Guntalk radio show and they did an interview with a fellow from the Outback Ammo company. One of the things they list their ammo as being suitable for is camels. What's with the feral camels? How did they get there? How big a problem are they? They say there are 2 million of them there and the Gov't wants to reduce the numbers by 800,000.

[wecsoger]

Can't wait to see a reply back on this.

Initially I would have thought it a joke, but then again it's Australia, from where nothing surprises me.

And thinking, "Feral Camels" would be a good name for a rock group.

[MrMurphy]

From what I remember they brought them in, just like they did in the U.S, to see if they could be used for supply trains and moving supplies across the Outback.

Apparently, they bred a bit better there than they did here.

Camels can move fast but they can't outrun a helo. Rifleman in a doorgunner position could take down a herd in two passes. Same solution as they do with pigs.

[JFE]

Parts of Australia are desert and semi desert and when the country was being explored in the 1800's, the Brits used camels and also brought in Afgan handlers. After the expeditions were completed the camels were set free and the Afgan handlers were allowed to stay. The conditions were ideal for the camels to breed and the locations are still very remote. Some of the Afgan handlers remained in the area and married into the local indigenous population. If you travel in the NW region you do come across some very different looking individuals.

The camels have been a problem for a while as the numbers have increased and they don't respect fences and they are ideal for existing that environment. The Aussie camels are well regarded by the Arabs as the animals are healthy and disease free but trapping them, transporting them and shipping them is not easy due to the remote locations. It has been done in the past but the numbers are too great to consider on a large scale. The meat should ideally be recovered but once again the conditions and the logistics are tough to deal with.

[Pop Watts]

+1 to JFE's comments.

Apparently Australia is the only country in the world to have a population of feral camels.

All of the early explorers to central Australia used camels. The Afghan handlers staid on and used camels to supply remote cattle stations well into the 1900's.

Queensland Police used camel mounted patrols to police the remote Western areas of the state until the 1930's.

Look for works by the author Ion Idriess. He wrote about travelling with camel mounted police patrols looking for cattle thieves and murderers. He is an interesting guy who was born in Sydney, but spent most of his life in the bush. Served with the Light Horse in WWI and was wounded at Gallipoli. He wrote about 40 books and the Queen ended up giving him an OBE for his work with Australian literature.

I have a cousin who has a 200 000 acre cattle station (ranch) in Western Queensland. A few years ago he bought some camels and released them onto his property because he had a thorny ugly bush that was growing all over the place. Turns out camels will walk a 100 miles to eat this horrible little plant, so now his camels are keeping the pest plant eaten down and he shoots a young one now and then for meat as well. Only eats the choice cuts and the rest goes to dog meat.

Yep, lots of camels in Australia and you can book guided hunts in the Northern Territory now if you have the inkling to shoot one - or a feral Donkey, but that's another story.

Pop.

[Rusty]

Thanks guys, very informative. I knew I could count on y'all for some help. I've heard there is also a rabbit problem there. It seems people didn't put a lot of thought into bringing new species down there back then.
We have the same problems here in Florida with people bringing is things that thrive here. Large snakes are the latest thing to be brought to the news.

Maybe they need to create a group to promote camel meat as a gourmet food item and increase demand.

[gundownunder]

When you start looking at individual property sizes of 1 million or more acres in the arid interior of the country you start to get a picture of how sparse the human population is, out there.
In October I will be going to Alice Springs from Perth via the Great Center Road. Once I leave the town of Laverton, the next town I come to will be Alice Springs, over 700 miles away, and it's a dirt road.
That country gets an average of about 8 inches of rain per year and sometimes will not get any rain for several years.
There are camels out there that would go their entire lives without ever seeing a human.
Camels have the ability to double their population about every 8 years. Today there are 2 million camels, by 2021 there would be 4 million if we did nothing to control them, and by 2029 there would be 8 million.
I remember a few years back there was an American woman started shooting her mouth off about how we are wasting a valuable resource. I'm still waiting to see the video of her milking one of these feral camels (I'd pay to see it ), or placing an order for 500,000 lbs of camel meat. I guess she was all mouth and pretty useless from there up.

[FWiedner]

Apparently Australia is the only country in the world to have a population of feral camels.

I'll go ahead and disagree with that. I believe that there are feral camels in SW Texas, USA, north of Presidio.

As has been discussed, their numbers are not great, there's no huge or problem population as far as I know, but they are out there.

I've seen them.

[Bruce Scott]

I friend of mine went on a camel culling trip on private land in the Kalgoorlie area of Western Australia last year. The rifles used were a Blaser double chambered in 270 and a Sako 243. According to John, his 243 loaded with 100gr bullets was well up to the job. A return trip is planned and I will join them this time around.

Here's a story of a similar 'hunt':
http://www.africahunting.com/hunting-au ... -hunt.html

[FWiedner]

Are the creatures edible?

What does a hunter do with a harversted camel?

(... Ever heard the one about the priest and the nun on a pilgirmage through the holy land, when their camel dies... ?

Not what I had in mind... )

[ollogger]

When you start looking at individual property sizes of 1 million or more acres in the arid interior of the country you start to get a picture of how sparse the human population is, out there.
In October I will be going to Alice Springs from Perth via the Great Center Road. Once I leave the town of Laverton, the next town I come to will be Alice Springs, over 700 miles away, and it's a dirt road.
That country gets an average of about 8 inches of rain per year and sometimes will not get any rain for several years.
There are camels out there that would go their entire lives without ever seeing a human.
Camels have the ability to double their population about every 8 years. Today there are 2 million camels, by 2021 there would be 4 million if we did nothing to control them, and by 2029 there would be 8 million.
I remember a few years back there was an American woman started shooting her mouth off about how we are wasting a valuable resource. I'm still waiting to see the video of her milking one of these feral camels (I'd pay to see it ), or placing an order for 500,000 lbs of camel meat. I guess she was all mouth and pretty useless from there up.

700 miles between towns!!! all of a sudden I don't feel to isolated living in Wyoming
like your sense of humor on the American blabber mouth, We seem to have plenty of em
to many camels is not good either


ollogger