Australia: Snipers to eliminate 10’000 camels

The camels are being shot by snipers from helicopters. The South Australian state environment ministry emphasised that the killing is being carried out to the highest animal welfare standards.

Vast herds of camels, in search of water and food, had pushed into indigenous communities, contaminating drinking water and raiding scarce food supplies.

First cull of its kind

The cull is the first of its kind in the state and is taking place in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY), an administrative district where approximately 2’300 indigenous people live. The ministry stated that it serves not only to protect people, but also to safeguard the welfare of the herds. Animals had already died of thirst or been trampled to death by one another.

Camels were first introduced to Australia in the mid-19th century from India to be used in opening up the vast interior of the country. Today, the Australian desert is home to more wild camels than anywhere else in the world, with estimates exceeding one million animals.

They are considered a pest in Australia, as they contaminate water sources and trample the natural flora while foraging. Landowners in the APY region have been capturing camels and selling them for years. In recent times, however, they have been overwhelmed by the large numbers of animals flooding into the area due to the drought, the environment ministry reported.

New evacuations

2019 was the driest year in Australia since weather records began. The extreme drought is one of the main reasons for the bushfires across the country. These are threatening to intensify again with an approaching new heatwave.

In several regions, evacuations were therefore ordered once again. «Leave, and above all: leave in time», demanded Victoria state police minister Lisa Neville on Wednesday. With the renewed evacuation effort, the authorities had «one single goal, plain and simple: to save lives.»

In Victoria, the new evacuation order affects primarily several communities in the east of the state. People were also evacuated from their homes and taken to safety on Kangaroo Island, popular with tourists, south of Adelaide in the state of South Australia.

During a visit to the island, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described conditions there and across the country as «shocking and frightening». The damage to wildlife alone is immense: according to conservationists, around 25’000 koalas — half of the local population — may have perished on Kangaroo Island.

Smoke crosses the ocean

The cloudless sky over central Chile has turned grey with smoke particles, as meteorologists confirmed. In Argentina too, the smoke is visible from southern Patagonia all the way to the central provinces of Córdoba and Buenos Aires. According to the Argentine national weather service SNM, the smoke cloud is at an altitude of around 5’000 metres, meaning it poses no health risk. The sky will simply turn grey and the sun may appear somewhat redder in the evening, it added.

Since the outbreak of the major fires in October, a combined total of around 110’000 square kilometres of land has burned in Australia — roughly the size of Bulgaria. There are at least 25 fatalities.

One billion animals dead

According to one scientist’s estimate, at least one billion animals have lost their lives. In the state of New South Wales alone on the east coast, more than 800 million mammals such as koalas and kangaroos, as well as reptiles and birds, have died, said Chris Dickman, ecologist and professor at the University of Sydney. These figures represent very conservative estimates, and the actual number of animals killed is likely to be significantly higher, Dickman said.

His most recent estimate is based on a report by the wildlife conservation organisation WWF from 2007, containing figures on the density of mammals (excluding bats), reptiles and birds living in the wild in the state of New South Wales. Frogs, insects and other invertebrates were not included in the count.