Hundreds of thousands of animals have perished in the fires that have plagued Australia for the past four months. Due to the drought, some 10,000 wild dromedaries will be killed by snipers. These animals, introduced to Australia in the 1840s by the settlers who used them to transport goods and goods, before the construction of railway lines, currently pose a threat to populations. Thirsty, they approach more and more localities in the interior of the country to find water.
Local officials in the state of South Australia say that "extremely large" herds, in search of water and food, threaten the reserves of these villages, in addition to causing damage and constituting a danger for them. motorists.
The huge island continent experienced its warmest and driest year in 2019, which not only led to dramatic forest fires that still rage in some regions, but also water shortages in many places.
Carcasses can contaminate water sources
This five-day slaughter campaign will be carried out in the territories of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY), a large area of local government (LGA) managed by the aborigines in the extreme north-west of South Australia . It is the first operation of its kind in this state.
"These herds exert pressure from the dromedaries' water on the aboriginal localities of the APY territories and pastoral activities", explained in a press release the executive committee of the APY territories.
The state’s environment ministry, which supports the slaughter, said the drought also posed “serious animal welfare issues” as many animals died of thirst or injured themselves while rushing towards water points. "In some cases, carcasses of dead animals have contaminated important water sources and cultural sites," said a ministry spokesperson.
About 20,000 camels were imported from India in about sixty years at the end of the 19th century. Evolving in freedom in the hinterland (Outback) and without natural predator, they have reproduced and are considered as a pest which contaminates water sources and endangers fragile areas as well as flora and fauna native.
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Australia is now believed to be the country with the largest population of wild dromedaries in the world, with some official estimates of one million animals in the desert areas of the center.
Already massive slaughterings in 2013
In the territories of the APY, residents have long lived by collecting and reselling these wild animals. But this task has become impossible because of the quantity of dromedaries which gather towards the rare water points because of the drought, according to the ministry.
Hence the decision to delete 10,000. The public broadcaster ABC reports that the dromedaries would be killed far from the villages and that their corpses would be burned.
Estimated at one million in the 2000s, the population had decreased by a quarter at the end of this decade due to the drought which had dried up several water points.
The authorities had set up in 2009 a management program for wild dromedaries and the population had been reduced in 2013 to 300,000 individuals, after massive killings carried out, already from helicopters, on an area of more than three million km2 .
VIDEO. Fire in Australia: fear in the belly of the inhabitants