Senseless
Human Behaviour
Our camels spend the summer on Moorna
Station near Wentworth in south-western NSW, where they enjoy a well deserved rest after
the trekking season.
Moorna straddles the ‘main road’
to Renmark. This is a gravel road frequented by locals, the many summer campers and those
people taking the ‘back road’ along the Murray River to Renmark in South
Australia.
In the evening of January 9th
the mob of 21 were camped near the fence in their paddock adjoining this road.
Sometime during this moonlit night, the
hooshed mob was illuminated in the fringe of a vehicle’s headlights. The vehicle
stopped. Probably less than a minute later 2 camels were dead. Shot at close range by a
professional shooter who knew where to aim and what was needed to destroy a large animal.
There were no moving targets involved here - he/she only had to line up the sight onto a
camel that was either asleep or looking straight at them - Wobbles and Starlight.
This was a deliberate act to destroy domesticated animals.
I suspect that the only reason why more
camels were not shot, was because they all got up and started moving about, thereby not
providing the shooter with more easy targets. The killer then walked over to Wobbles and Starlight
and in the ensuing flight to safety most of the other camels would without doubt have
‘made the connection’ between what had happened and who had made it happen.
The alarm was raised on Monday and the
Police attended the scene on Tuesday. The rifle used was a 6.5 x 55 calibre – an
uncommon firearm to be found these days but one favoured by the professional shooter. The
spent cartridges have been taken for forensic testing in the (remote) hope that
fingerprints can be lifted for an identification of the shooter.
The rest of the herd have been moved to a
paddock away from the road and I spent a number of hours with them the following day.
Camels have a strong and robust herd instinct and, pecking order notwithstanding, develop
a collective bond for their mob. As cameleers, during the winter we are constantly
observing which camels are mates with whom and who they like to hang out with. Over the
course of many years, these camels spend endless months living and working with humans,
and definitely come to treat the cameleers as ‘part of their mob.’
It is well documented how elephants show
compassion at the death of one of their own species and care for each other in times of
distress. At the risk of anthropomorphising this event, it was quite evident to me that as
a mob they were collectively distressed. All of
them were continually looking straight in the direction where their two mates lay (1.8km
away) with one camel in particular continually vocalising his anxiety. I had the sense
that particularly the older camels were seeking some type of reassurance from me. Or
perhaps I was just trying to reassure them...
Their trust in us (people) has been
temporarily shattered.
Andrew Harper
Managing Director, Australain Desert Expeditions
Owner, Outback Camel Company
ABC Mildura-Swan Hill - January 20th 'Senseless Camel Shootings'
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