Clip: Season 2 Episode 1 | 2m 22s | Video has closed captioning.
In the Australian Outback, M. Sanjayan witnesses the impact that invasive camels have made to the natural balance of the Australian ecosystem. Sanjayan begins to understand exactly how urgent the state sanctioned cull of feral camels was 15 years ago.
Aired: 04/19/23
The Rangers want to show me the effect this camel invasion is having on one of their ancestral waterholes.
There really is no natural solution to the camel crisis, and I'm starting to understand why the impact is so damaging.
“This is the first time I've seen water ” “outside of my tap ” “and seeing it on the surface like this ” “available to wildlife and people.
” “You realize how special... ” “...and it took us over an hour to drive to this one place.
” “It's clear that humans couldn't use this anymore, ” “because of the camels.
” A single camel can drink up to 30 gallons of water in 10 minutes.
So a herd of thirsty camels can drain a small waterhole dry, as well as fouling up the water.
State sanctioned culling of feral camels was first introduced nearly 15 years ago, and it's plain to me how urgent it continues to be to get rid of camels before they damage the environment beyond repair.
“Just got a camel over here that ” “R.O.
is hot on the trail of with his rifle.
” “Yeah.
” “We generally cut these camels up ” “and we can feed the whole community for it ” “for one night.
” “Probably, a community of 150 people for free, ” “from one camel, and there's tons of them out in country.
” “So one big fella like this hes probably... ” “he seems like a younger fella eh Raymond?
” “Yeah.
” “So he'll go off and make a big mob of camels... ” “...and so by killing this big one, ” “we can ensure that there's less ” “reproduction happening... ” v “...and that's the real aim.
”
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