Animal rights group rebuffs proposed camel culling
To reduce carbon emissions in Australia
Blame it to the camel, which according to an Aussie firm, contributes ass much as one tonne of carbon dioxide emission each year to the country's atmosphere basing on their last accounted population of about 1.2 million heads.
In a report by the Agence France Press (AFP) on Sunday, the International Society of Camelid Research and Development (ISOCARD) scored a proposal made by Northwest Carbon to the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, which calls for the elimination of a significant number of the animal's population in the country.
The group's suggestion was based on camel's natural penchant to release gas, which when aggregated would sum up to a significant amount of methane that then leads to a considerable degree of carbon emission.
Obviously the idea is attached to the planned carbon tax by the federal government and wanting to carve up enough carbon credits to reduce its tax liability, Northwest Carbon volunteered to reduce the camel population in the country.
The company plans to shoot down the animals from a chopper or gather them in a place where they can be culled and their meat processed for human and animal consumption.
In a statement however, ISOCARD described the plan as "false and stupid ... and plain scientific aberration," as the group stressed that Australia needs not resort to inhumane approach in order to slash down its carbon footprint.
The group was quoted by AFP as saying that "believe that the good-hearted people and innovating nation of Australia can come up with better and smarter solutions than eradicating camels in inhumane ways."
In the paper it submitted to the federal government, the Adelaide-based Northwest Group also underscored that aside from being a key contributor to air pollution, camels have evolved as pests that attack the country's vegetation.
However, such assessments, according to the United Arab Emirates-based ISOCARD were completely baseless as the group argued that "the estimation of camel methane emission is quite debatable ... and metabolic efficiency of camel is higher than that of cattle."
More so, the group stressed that camels are significantly more efficient in producing milk while consuming comparably less food and instead of thinking about their eradication, ISOCARD insisted that "they can and should be exploited for food (meat and milk), skin and hides, tourism etcetera."