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Australia camel cull sparks woe | Australia camel cull sparks woe |
(about 10 hours later) | |
The Australian government has proposed a budget to implement a long-standing plan to cull the country's camels by shooting them. | The Australian government has proposed a budget to implement a long-standing plan to cull the country's camels by shooting them. |
Animal welfare supporters reject the plan, but people sharing the outback with the camels call them a menace. | Animal welfare supporters reject the plan, but people sharing the outback with the camels call them a menace. |
Unlike the kangaroo or koala, the camel is not an animal automatically associated with Australia. | |
They were first brought there in the mid-19th Century to help explorers traverse the desert. | |
But there are now thought to be more than one million roaming the outback. | |
That is roughly one camel for every 20 people, and the population is set to double over the next decade unless some form of action is taken. | |
In remote communities they are seen as a troublesome menace, trampling vegetation and occasionally ripping up water pipes, as they search for food and water. | In remote communities they are seen as a troublesome menace, trampling vegetation and occasionally ripping up water pipes, as they search for food and water. |
So the Australian government has set aside $16m (£9.7m) to contain the problem and one proposal is to shoot the camels from helicopters or on foot. | So the Australian government has set aside $16m (£9.7m) to contain the problem and one proposal is to shoot the camels from helicopters or on foot. |
Animal welfare groups are opposed to a mass slaughter. | Animal welfare groups are opposed to a mass slaughter. |
They have suggested another more humane alternative: birth control, giving animals a drug to render them infertile. | They have suggested another more humane alternative: birth control, giving animals a drug to render them infertile. |