Using CamelScan's mapping tool, you can enter camel sighting data to show where you see camels or the damage they cause. You can also... Read more
Satellite tracking shows how far feral camels travel and why landholders and governments in different state and territories need to work... Read more
Photo taken by surveillance camera at a waterhole, 27-28 February 2008. This image is part of a series of 11,000 images that were taken in... Read more
This Grevillea wickhamii damaged by camels on the Koop Hills track, Great Sandy Desert, WA. 22 August 2010 Photo: David Hewitt Read more
This quandong tree has sustained significant damage from feral camels. Photo: Dylan Ferguson. Read more
Camels around a dry waterhole near Docker River (NT). Camels can rapidly deplete and pollute water sources that may otherwise sustain... Read more
Toilet on an Aboriginal settlement near Warburton in the Ngaanyatjarra lands (WA) that has been damaged by camels (image courtesy of P.... Read more
Damage to airstrip at Punmu community, Pilbara, WA. June 2008. Photo courtesy of David Hewitt. Read more
Camels walking through Warakurna (WA). Image courtesy of Ngaanyatjarra Council. Read more
This waterhole at Curtin Springs Station, NT, is vulnerable to fouling and degradation by feral camels. Read more
Black Flanked Rock Wallaby (Petrogale lateralis lateralis) Warru. Kaalpi (Calvert Range), Little Sandy Desert. This rare and endangered... Read more
Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis), Marnkarr. This rare and endangered species is found where feral camels are in medium to high densities.... Read more
Spinifex Hopping Mouse (Notomys alexis) - Kilu. This rare and endangered species is found where feral camels are in medium to high... Read more
Camels have a range of commercial uses, but mustering feral camels is expensive because of the enormous distances involved. Image courtesy... Read more
Feral camels that have been mustered need to be transported long distances for processing. Image courtesy Hans Boessem. Read more
Camel sausages were a hit at this Napperby Field Day in 2007. Camel meat has protein levels similar to those found in beef, and less fat... Read more
Click here to view Environments at risk, Camel Impacts, Stakeholder Interviews & Project Partners.
“People are so over the damage that camels do, people who live with them on a day-to-day basis, that they are very, very keen to see them reduced to a number that they can live with.”
Jan Ferguson, Managing Director, Ninti One Limited
“Look, we need to do something today, and in fact 40 years ago if we’d seen an impending problem … we probably wouldn’t have the problem we’ve got today, but the experts say that they are increasing something like 70,000 a year.”
David Hewitt, AM
“On a recent return to country trip the elders were horrified when they went back to discover that these very, very significant water holes were just trashed -- too many camels. Far too many camels for the country to be able to sustain.”
Peter See, Director Land Programs, Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa
“There’s no kangaroos, there are no emus left in that land out there and when you see that, look at the area and the size of the amount of country out there, to realise that the camels are becoming such a dominant factor … and that’s a condemnation on us if we don’t do something about them.”
Robin Mills, Warrawagine Station, WA
“Back here a couple of years ago when we really got hit, went down to a mate’s place because he called us at a quarter to six one morning because he had 1,500 for breakfast, around the house, and they actually had their heads through the window, the kitchen window.”
Ashley Severin, Curtin Springs Station, NT
“We need to immediately, over the next let’s say four to six years, we need to actually start to make inroads into reducing the number of camels and also the population density in key areas because in some areas now the population is up to around 10 per square kilometre and that is unacceptably high and the impacts in those areas are unacceptably large.”
Dr Glenn Edwards, NT Department of Resources
“I understand camel not belonging to Australia. They are a good animal but too many is too many, and it’s hard to control and they move all over the place. It upset me and sometimes it make me sorry to do what we’re planning to do but it is getting out of hand now these days. They’re breeding more than the dogs I think.”
Butler Landy, Senior Martu traditional owner
“We’re comfortable with the fact that something has to be done. With any kind of introduced animal that is having a significant impact, particularly on the environment in Australia, if you’re able to determine what those impacts are and address them then that’s a valid reason for controlling a particular population.”
Dr Bidda Jones, Chief Scientist, RSPCA
Camels have the ability to cause the local extinction of highly preferred species like the quandong (Santalum acuminatum), plumbush (S. lanceolatum), curly pod wattle (Acacia sessiliceps), native apricot (Pittosporum augustifolium), bean tree (Erythrina vespertilio), and Lawrencia species (Dörges & Heucke 2003).
Quandong (Santalum acuminatum), a species that has high customary value and potentially has high commercial value, is now listed as vulnerable in the Northern Territory due to camel damage (Woinarski et al. 2007).
Feral camels are very mobile animals that can move up to 70 km in a day (Grigg et al. 1995)
The net economic impact is -$24.53 million annually (assessed over the period July 2005 – June 2007 for the most part) taking greenhouse emissions into account and -$10.67 million annually without accounting for greenhouse emissions. (Edwards et al. 2008).
The Australian Feral Camel Management Project addresses the urgent need to significantly reduce feral camel densities to lessen their impacts in remote Australia on biodiversity, wetlands, waterholes and sites of cultural value to Aboriginal people, infrastructure (fences, houses, cars) and personal safety.
Ninti One Limited | Ph: +61 8 8959 6039
Em. info@feralcamels.com.au
PO Box 3971 Alice Springs, NT, Australia 0871