Camels,over a million of them, and growing fast– their population is expected to double by 2020. The animals were brought Down Under by Afghan migrant workers in the 1800s to help lay roads and railroads across the massive, forbidding desert continent. They were also used to transport goods to remote settlements and mines.
But today the camels are seen first and foremost as a nuisance by farmers, and even conservationists. Each camel farts the equivalent of one ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. Add that up and you’ve got a real problem– well over 1.2 million metric tons of methane polluting the air over Australia. The camels are one of Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters.
The camels also cause more than $5 million in damage to pastoral lands, fences and buildings each year, according to the Australian government.
Killing the animals, which would be done by shooting them from helicopters or off-road vehicles, is “a critically important part of the solution to climate change and bringing Australia along with the rest of the global community in reducing emissions,” Tim Moore, the managing director of Northwest Carbon and the man behind the cull plan, told Bloomberg.
“We’re a nation of innovators and we find innovative solutions to our challenges,” he added. “This is just a classic example.”
It seems to me like it’s a classic example of man dealing with a manmade problem through violence against innocent sentient beings. Killing more than a million animals in this manner is nothing short of a camel Holocaust. Yes, the meat would be processed for human and animal consumption and yes, Australia does have a camel problem. But there’s got to be another way to solve it other than the wholesale slaughter of innocent animals.
No comments:
Post a Comment