Camel threat

Hi Rick, I remember reading a CSIRO (from memory) report on the feral Camels living in central Australia about 20 years ago. The long and the short of it was at that time the Camels were responsible for more localised native animal extinctions than Cats and Foxes put together, this was almost completely due to what they do in water holes, at the time it really surprised me. I recall one trip to Alice from Perth on the GCR we saw one Kangaroo and Camels numbered 4 different herds of between 5-10 animals to one group with over 20 in it.
We have never felt threatened by these animals, but I can imagine at breeding time the behaviour of the males could be unpredictable. It's good to hear about some kind population control effort. Cheers, Kanga.

Rick , Tell us about your two run ins with camels, what prompted the attack and what happened etc.

I don't think the Febs budget of 19M will make much impression - too much soaked up by the office bound shiny bums rather than shooting in the field.

You are very unlikely to be harassed by camels, however if they get too close and you don't feel comfortable - just hop in the car and do a drive past with lots of noise and they will be off.

John

Quite a lot of Camels that I encountered "fell over" after seeing me, the rest were either too fast or I didn't have the "Arab" with me...

Out around Mt Worsnop on the Hunt Oil Road, our camp was set upon by an angry male after his cows showed a bit too much interest in a big fella we had at our camp. My bronze coloured Patrol wagon with a roof top tent that opened to the rear. He came up bellowing and posturing tom within 15 metres. I was getting quite concerned as I only had a shovel for protection. Slipping quietly over to the tent, I pushed the tent over and collapsed it so that it was flat. That confused him and diffused the threat.

Here are millions out there and they have caused regional extinction of flora and fauna. You only ever find macropods in and around range areas now, areas the camels will only go as a last resort. Cull them all in my opinion.

Cheers Mick

All camels have to be treated with due care, due to their ability to cause serious bodily damage if they become enraged or even worse - when aroused.
My Dad owned a camel team in the 1930's. He used them to pull a percussion boring rig around the Murchison and as far South as Kalannie.

He spoke fondly and at length of his camels, but he still treated them with great respect.
Camels spit, they can bite savagely, and unlike cows and horses, they can kick in ANY direction, with ANY leg - making them very dangerous beasts indeed.

One of the camels Dad owned (a black camel) was a killer. He'd killed his Afghan owner in Meekatharra.
The Afghan had been very cruel to the camel and had regularly beaten the camel with a lump of wood.
The camel just bided his time and when the Afghans back was turned, the camel bit the top right off his head.

No-one would touch the camel after the Afghan was killed by him, but Dad, being an "animal" man, took him on.
He treated him with care and respect and he said he was the best camel he ever had, he was the hardest worker of the bunch.
He never used abusive treatment or abusive handling on any animal he ever owned.

95% of the time, camels are no threat to humans and wild camels are generally timid. They're slow thinkers, like cattle, and if comfortably settled, they will move only when it suits them.

The most dangerous angle of camels is that the male comes into heat and becomes quite a risk to humans.
They become irrational in their behaviour, they will charge anything that they think is mountable, or charge anything they think is a threat to their conquest/s.
They are big, heavy, animals and they can cause substantial damage to life and limb when in this state.

Below is a story that is partly chuckle and partly very serious. It relates to a wild bull camel on heat going berserk.
Fortunately, no-one was hurt in the events related, but it could easily have been a different story.

A camel is having sex with my car!

Some friends were capturing camels live about 30 yrs ago, just out of Laverton.
They were wrestling one reluctant camel onto a truck when one of the blokes yelled "look out" to another bloke, who had his back to the camel.

The second bloke spun around to see the camel with its head raised and its mouth wide open, poised directly over his head!
He ducked out of the way faster than a bloke trying to avoid a snake strike!

Luckily, it appeared the camel was only threatening him, not actually into the process of biting him, but it could easily have turned very nasty, very quickly.
They increased their respect for, and their distance from, camels mouths, after that episode, and they never turned their back on a camel again, that was within striking distance!

Cheers, Ron.

Hi Rick

Like all things, it will come down to just luck. I have only ever had one real scare and it could have been a different story if the camel was agro.

A few years ago out in the Great Victoria Desert, I left the car and set off on foot, armed only with a camera and GPS to walk less than 200 metres to located an old Aboriginal soak.

Looking at the GPS while walking, I walked to the top of a very slight sand dune and there right in front of me, less than 20 metres away was one very large camel. I do not know who got the biggest shock, but I just froze, and thought to myself that if it charges me, I would sure to be killed, as there were no nearby trees to head for, only just very low bushes that would offer no protection at all.

To my luck, the camel looked at me, then turned around and just slowly walked away. If there was a group of camels, it may have been very different, but it made me very aware that the situation could have been very different.


Cheers


Stephen

First threat
Camped with a group on the Gary Highway, about midpoint, in a mulga flat. I'm a light sleeper. Woke in the early hours and could not identify a strange sound. Took a while to nut it out, but it was a single camel wandering through the camp. At dawn, when the others arose, no-one had heard anything. Knowing that some camels have nasty biting tendencies, and being aware of the potential for a bull camel in season to be dangerous, I did feel threatened but chose to remain still and not alert any human or camel; the marauder disappeared in due course and all I later saw were tracks.

Second threat
Camped on the Gunbarrel, east of Mt Beadell in a relatively open patch of mulga. Got a fire going, set up camp & Mr young bull camel came over to inspect. He was on his pat malone. He was not at all intimidated by our presence. My mate and I threw stuff at him, ran like screaming,waving, big ugly dervishes at him, but he remained too close for comfort for about 5 minutes, then sauntered away. We saw and heard no other camels in that camp.

Were we at risk?
IMHO, yes. There are far too many recorded instances and personal anecdotes from cameleer mates for me too ignore these behaviours. It doesn't stop me from travelling through the interior, but I do try to minimise risks.

Cheers