| Getting ready for the restoration of the lost al-Outbakiyya Caliphate... |
Parts of Australia's Outback could soon be overrun by wild camels if drastic measures are not taken to cull them, a wildlife scientist said today. "How drastic?"
Very drastic" |
Australia is now home to about 500,000 camels roaming the country's vast tracts of desert, said Glenn Edwards, a senior scientist for the Northern Territory provincial government and camel colony-counting government grant seeker. Camels were first introduced to Australia in the mid-1800s to transport goods across the desert. When trucks and trains made the beasts of burden unneeded, their owners simply turned them loose. With no natural predators and ample grazing land, the camel population has exploded in parts of central, northern and western Australia, and could exceed one million in the next decade, Edwards said. "The feral camel population is growing by about 10% each year and doubling in size every eight years," Edwards said in a statement. "These camels feed on more than 80% of the available plant species in the area they inhabit and have serious impacts on vegetation." Edwards said camels were also beginning to encroach on agricultural land, causing extensive damage to stock fences and rural infrastructure.| "We're also seeing some evidence of a new 'seething' type of behavior...more of a 'simmer', actually, but something we definitely want to keep an eye on." |
| Combine their spitting with seething and you have a wicked combination, but nothing you can't handle wth a .303 Winchester. |
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