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Background
The first camels arrived in Australia in 1840 from the Canary Islands. During the 1880s and 1890s the camel importation rate rose sharply as camels were utilised for exploration purposes. It is estimated that 10,000 - 20,000 camels were imported between 1880 and 1907. The domestic camel population continued to expand from 1880 until the early 1920s through importations and natural increase, but then declined steadily as motor vehicles began to be used more and more for freight haulage. Although unwanted camels were occasionally destroyed, many were turned out into the bush where they established feral populations.
Impacts
Feral camels have demonstrable environmental, economic and cultural impacts. In central Australia, camels feed on more than 80% of the available plant species. Serious impacts of camels on vegetation are evident in situations where camels occur at densities greater than 2 animals per km2, which is the case throughout much of the Northern Territory. Feral camels severely defoliate and suppress the recruitment of some shrub and tree species including curly pod wattle (Acacia sessiliceps), bean tree (Erythrina vespertilio), quandong (Santalum acuminatum), plumbush (Santalum lanceolatum) and supplejack (Ventilago viminalis), with such impacts being greatly exacerbated in drier years. Some important food plants traditionally harvested by Aboriginal people (e.g. Ipomoea costata) are also seriously affected by camel browsing.
Feral camels have a noticeable impact on fragile salt lake ecosystems and foul waterholes, which are important sites for Aboriginal people and for native fauna. Feral camels are also likely to destabilise dune crests thereby contributing to erosion. Feral camels damage stock fences (often over hundreds of metres) and infrastructure at cattle watering points. Camels are also an increasing hazard to motorists traversing outback roads.
Management Practices
Current management of feral camels is largely ad hoc and has little impact on populations overall. Management falls into three categories:
- Fencing off of key areas. While appropriate fencing can effectively exclude feral camels, it does not reduce populations.
- Live wild-harvest for the purpose of commercial sale. In the Northern Territory, a small industry based on the live wild-harvest and live-export of feral camels has been in operation since 1993. However, the current annual off-take is small (less than 5,000 animals) and populations are increasing in spite of this effort. Although existing markets are notoriously fickle in regard to the size and sex of the animals they require at particular times of the year, there is scope for the industry to grow. Construction of a purpose-built export abattoir could open up new markets for camel meat with the added benefit that all camels, irrespective of size and sex, could be utilised all year round.
- Culling (both ground-based and aerial). In South Australia, ground-based and aerial shooting have been used to reduce feral camel populations on national parks and pastoral leases in the north of the state. Limited aerial culling of feral camels has been undertaken on pastoral leases in the Northern Territory at the behest of managers. Here, aerial shooting is carried out by trained personnel employed by the Parks and Wildlife Service with the cost of helicopter hire and ammunition being met by the land manager. Although the aerial shooting of large animals like horses and camels is a highly emotive issue, it is the most effective and humane technique of culling large feral herbivores in remote, inaccessible situations.
Feral camels are very mobile and move over very large areas. Consequently, extensive buffer zones will be needed in arid regions to protect environmentally sensitive areas from camel impacts if these threaten biodiversity values in those areas. Also, because feral camels are wide ranging, it is imperative that the relevant state and territory governments act together to manage the species across its entire range.