Culling Camels

[Rhaenys]

Not to mention first world vs third world solutions.

But this is definitely getting a bit out of my knowledge comfort zone.

 

[SteveNT]

Was thinking that its almost a pity we couldnt find some way to put them on a ship amd send them over to areas currently suffering from famine, we already send some camels to the middle east to become beasts of burden, there are areas over there particulary in afghanistan where they are suffering through severe droughts and man people are facing starvation. A camel is a large animal with i can only imagine a pretty good a,ount of meat on it.

Hey cobber, I'm on the piss with a bunch of boys who just returned from Afghanistan. They're just boys, well trained and no shortage of guts but I hurt for the whole mob, It's an evil business when both sides put their kids in the firing line, but it has to be addressed and they are doing it.

Lest we forget.

 

[snakeynewbie]

My hubby is in the forces so its pretty close to home for us too. The thing that concerns me is that its already hard to raise money for food aid, etc how much harder must it be to raise money for a countrry that doesnt have the luxury of having the sympathy of much of the population.

 

[Rhaenys]

Hey cobber, I'm on the piss with a bunch of boys who just returned from Afghanistan. They're just boys, well trained and no shortage of guts but I hurt for the whole mob, It's an evil business when both sides put their kids in the firing line, but it has to be addressed and they are doing it.

Lest we forget.

Tell them they're doing a damn fine job,
I'm glad their families get them home for christmas. x

 

[Darlyn]

Was thinking that its almost a pity we couldnt find some way to put them on a ship amd send them over to areas currently suffering from famine, we already send some camels to the middle east to become beasts of burden, there are areas over there particulary in afghanistan where they are suffering through severe droughts and man people are facing starvation. A camel is a large animal with i can only imagine a pretty good a,ount of meat on it.

The logistics and cost in moving these animals, be it as carcasses or live meat is ridiculous. We are taking 1000's of Km's in transportation. Be great if it was a logical solution, but at the end of the day they are using their common sense and getting rid of a feral pest.

 

[JasonL]

Wild camels are just that, wild, and they are very large and generally not happy animals to work with, which makes them dangerous.... sending one anywhere costs a lot of money and man hours.... on the other hand a 308 bullet costs about 50 cents and takes less than a second to deploy.

 

[snakeynewbie]

Yeah i know, hence why its a pity there isnt some simple way to do it... Sigh, just pipe dreaming about ways to solve all the worl issues

 

[mysnakesau]

Interesting reference to whales and cats and dogs and there being an uproar. I mean, if it were feral goats, rabbits and foxes people wouldn't care as much either as they are feral animals. No different to camels.

That's it. And ppl are still releasing domestic rabbits into national parks without any concern for the poor rabbit, or the impact it can potentially cause.

I thought the same snakenewbie. I guess not everyone has heard of 1080.

Wild camels are just that, wild, and they are very large and generally not happy animals to work with, which makes them dangerous.... sending one anywhere costs a lot of money and man hours.... on the other hand a 308 bullet costs about 50 cents and takes less than a second to deploy.

And if done properly, no pain inflicted on the animal.

 

[Bluetongue1]

I used to think that animal liberationists were good people basically standing up for what they believe in. Experience has caused me to alter that view. I now see them as misguided zealots who will stop at virtually nothing to get their own way. They are savvy and have infiltrated the halls of power in order to further their own ends. Perhaps ‘rat cunning’ would be an appropriate simile.

Donkeys, feral pigs, rabbits and kangaroos are all culled through shooting. With kangaroos this has been going on for over a century. So why is this suddenly cruel? Cattle, sheep and pigs are dispatched at the abattoir with a bullet. The numbers killed there are huge compared to culling. If those histrionically carrying on about cruelty to animals are really genuine, surely they should be trying to do something about slaughter houses first? Yhen again, maybe it makes for boring reading and it’s all been approved by animal ethics boards and govt. policy, so there is no percentage in beating it up.

... I reckon their arguments stink of methane!

We export a limited number of camels to the Middle East because ours are the healthiest camels on the globe. All are broken in before export, which only takes a day or two. We also export some wild caught horses, also broken in before they go.

Cows actually belch out more methane than fart it out. Around two-thirds to three-quarters comes out the front end.

Blue

 

[mysnakesau]

I worked one day, in a rabbit abbitoir and was never asked to go back. I did my job well, and rang them every couple of days to find out if I could go there, they'd say they didn't have enough work. But I reckon they didn't ask me back because I was too sentiment as far as how the rabbits were treated. Their attitude was, "Who cares, they're only going to die anyway". My attitude was, "So, doesn't mean they have to be treated like that in the meantime." The guy unloading them from the trucks would grab four at a time, by the ears, and stand about 10ft away from where they were going, and throw them There was that many in the pens they were sitting on top of each other and peeing on each other, and god knows what was happening in the culling room. One now and then would let a squeal out.

 

[imported_Varanus]

I have broken in wild camels and was owner/operator of my own small tourism business for a while involving camel treks of varying duration, amazing animals with very distinct personalities. When I hear people say they stink and spit, I equate that to "the only good snake is a dead snake", just ignorance or parrot fashion repetetivness ,really.They have played a significant role in the past, both in exploration and transport, when nothing else would do (the original semi-trailer). And, although I know culling is the only appropriate action at this time, It still saddened me to see D-double load after D-double load pass through the city of Alice Springs on the way to the meat works.

 

[SteveNT]

All the ferals (even toads) have endearing qualities but they are in the wrong part of the world.

As I see it there are two options,

Accept the redistribution of species worldwide, via the human agency, as a natural part of the evolutionary process and accept the inevitable displacement and extinction of some endemic species....or...

....do what is possible to protect the existing environment and the species evolved as integral parts of that environment from disruption and replacement by invasive species whose effect is clearly detrimental to the local biotas.

I choose the latter.

 

[imported_Varanus]

I'm certainly an advocate for the latter, but I fear the former will be the more likely outcome. We seem to be very haphazard (?) about our solution to the whole situation, at best. I really wish there were a viable option for the Cane Toad, as my heart and soul belong to The Kimberley, but people are the ultimate determiners of what and when. It seems like removing indigenous populations from the land management equation (certainly in the Kimberley) is having just as much, if not more, detrimental impact than that posed by feral animals.

 

[SteveNT]

Here here cobber. There will be action on toads when Canberra mob wake up to find their pet dog dead with a mangled toad nearby.

The upside is that the frillies and the mertens monitors are staging comebacks. Most raptors and kingfisher mob seem to have learned to avoid them. Bhp numbers have definately boomed (they musn't eat them because their paths certainly do cross).

But the quolls are gone, the dwarf escarpment freshies are gone (there is no egg laying in the usual places, none!), king browns and western browns are hen's teeth these days.

I kill the ferals as the opportunity presents itself, I get no joy in killing these animals, it's hardly their fault. However it is necessary to sort out our priorities and I know where mine lie.

I organise humane feral animal destruction and ariel culling training for Indigenous Rangers up here and their efforts will make a big difference to the impact on the country here by large ferals. If there is an abotoir within realistic reach the animals will be recycled. But there are so many of them and so widely dispersed that it is usually not viable to transport them.

But toads will take another solution entirely.

 

[jedi_339]

Has anyone heard of the research being done on the cane toad and genetic modification?

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard they are trying to generically modify the males to produce only successive generations of males eventually trying to breed them out?

If this is happening and I've heard the rumors correctly it sounds like a very promising and hopefully effective method for either eradication or long term control

As for camels, I support culling all ferals and hope to become more involved in it soon 

 

[imported_Varanus]

I organise humane feral animal destruction and ariel culling training for Indigenous Rangers up here and their efforts will make a big difference to the impact on the country here by large ferals. If there is an abotoir within realistic reach the animals will be recycled. But there are so many of them and so widely dispersed that it is usually not viable to transport them.

I like it!! Perhaps you could send some trainers or some of the boys over to take care of all the Donkeys currently enjoying the laid- back Kimberley lifestyle?!

 

[SteveNT]

I like it!! Perhaps you could send some trainers or some of the boys over to take care of all the Donkeys currently enjoying the laid- back Kimberley lifestyle?!

That's a given as the Rangers gain experience. The issue of funding in the NT is becoming less of an issue because as the Rangers gain the necessary training and hands on time they become a commodity. There are several independant Ranger groups now and that is the aim with all of them.

Our guys have contracts with customs, quarantine, military, mining, fisheries, pastoral, retail and research organisations. They are ideally located to respond to issues in remote Oz provided they have the training. That's my job.

And theirs!

 

[hugsta]

I just realised this threa was still going, I haven't read it since my last post, so can anyone tell me if all the camels are dead yet? And if not, how come??

 

[waruikazi]

But the quolls are gone, the dwarf escarpment freshies are gone (there is no egg laying in the usual places, none!), king browns and western browns are hen's teeth these days.

Sorry to take this off topic Steve but i'm interested to hear your thoughts and experience on how toads and nuchalis interact. I never got into the feild with any gusto until my early 20's which was after the toads moved through my area, so i may have missed an initial drop in numbers. That said I've never seen a nuchalis that has eaten a toad and i think they are still in strong numbers across the toad effected areas. In all of my callouts and herping adventures they easily represent as the ven species with the highest encounters.

I've been wrong before about toads though. I've seen pictures (and the animal) of an NT tai that died after swallowing a toad right down to its stomach and (even though i never saw it and didn't beleive it) carpets will prey on toads.

 

[SteveNT]

No first hand observations but Graeme Gow opened up a lot of dead ones and found a toad in most. We used to come across them very often (5 in an afternoon at Pollen Face Creek 1 day!) but they are a very rare sight these days. Black whips on the other hand seem a lot more common than they used to be.