Snipers will shoot from helicopters 10,000 wild camels in Australia, because of the threat posed to populations by these animals which, due to the drought, are approaching more and more localities in the interior of the country to find water. Local officials in the state of South Australia say that "extremely large" herds, in search of water and food, threaten the reserves of these villages, in addition to causing damage and constituting a danger for them. motorists.
The huge island continent experienced its warmest and driest year in 2019, which not only led to dramatic forest fires that still rage in some regions, but also water shortages in many places. This five-day slaughter campaign will be carried out in the territories of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY), a large area of local government (LGA) managed by the aborigines in the extreme north-west of South Australia . It is the first operation of its kind in this state.
Imported animals
The state’s environment ministry, which supports the slaughter, said the drought also posed “serious animal welfare issues” as many animals died of thirst or injured themselves while rushing towards water points. "In some cases, carcasses of dead animals have contaminated important water sources and cultural sites," said a ministry spokesperson.
Dromedaries were introduced to Australia in the 1840s by settlers, who used them for exploration or to transport goods and goods, before the construction of railway lines. About 20,000 animals were imported from India in about sixty years. Evolving in freedom in the hinterland (Outback) and without natural predator, they have reproduced and are considered as a pest which contaminates water sources and endangers fragile areas as well as flora and fauna native.
The public broadcaster ABC reports that the dromedaries would be killed far from the villages and that their corpses would be burned. The number of dromedaries has fluctuated over the decades. Estimated at one million in the 2000s, the population had decreased by a quarter at the end of this decade due to the drought which had dried up several water points. The authorities had set up in 2009 a program to manage wild dromedaries and the population had been reduced in 2013 to 300,000 individuals, after massive culls carried out, already, from helicopters, on an area of more than three million km2.
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