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Aussie Aerial Shoot Could Cull 1M Camels
By Neal Colgrass
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Posted Jul 26, 09 7:45 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Australian officials are debating how to cull more than 1 million camels currently munching across the outback and irritating Aboriginals, the Independent reports. Some experts support an aerial shoot to save the desert ecosystem, but say it must be thorough; killing 80,000 would only match their birth rate. Estimated to cost $16 million, the cull could also net $1 billion in profits—especially if the world can develop a taste for camel burgers, The Australian reports.
"The world has a need for low-cost protein," says one entrepreneur who wants the government to fund camel-meat processing. "Problem solved—you've got your environmental benefit, you're employing people and you've supplied meat for aid programs in Afghanistan." As it stands, the government plans let the camel carcasses rot, and Aboriginals have not granted Aussies access to land to cart the meat away.