Camelcide

This week an American newsreader branded the Australian Prime Minister a “serial killer” after he announced £10million plans to control a feral camel plague by culling the mammals. Miss Burnett, an anchor on US financial news channel CNBC, took particular objection to the plans exclaiming live on TV: “There is a serial killer in Australia and we are going to put a picture up so we can see who it is.” The camel lover then brandish a picture of PM Kevin Rudd before adding, “He has launched air strikes - air strikes - against camels in the outback.” Australia is currently struggling to control more than one million feral camels that roam unchecked through the outback. The herds destroy fragile ecosystems and trample over sacred indigenous sites. They are eaten and raced and used to haul heavy loads. Interestingly, the one humped, Dromedary camels or two humped, much hairier, Bactrian Camels, can run at speeds up to 40mph in short sprints and they can maintain a speed of 25mph for up to an hour. Far from being mythical creatures used to market cigarettes, Dromedary Camels exist in Australia (obviously), north America and north Africa. The Irish one, the chatterbox and myself travelled for 17 hours in the aircon-less minibus towards the Algerian boarder with Morocco for a camel ride - the last thing on our mind was hanging out of an aircraft taking pot shots at them whilst chewing on a camel burger.