Managing Feral Camel Impacts

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Managing feral camel impactsI N T H E K A R L A M I LY I N AT I O N A L PA R K

The Karlamilyi National Park,

formerly known as the Rudall

River National Park, covers

close to 1.3 million hectares

of remote desert country in

the eastern Pilbara region

of Western Australia, a

landscape of red sand dunes,

stony hills, salt lakes and vast

spinifex plains.

This extraordinary National

Park is one of the largest

in the world.

The Rudall River National

Park was declared on

22 April 1977 and became the

Karlamilyi National Park

in mid-2008.

August 2012

www.feralcamels.com.au

www.feralscan.org.au/camelscan



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UniqueenvironmentThe Rudall River is unique in the

region being a major ancient

watercourse, with reliable water

sources and permanent pools,

and one that starts and ends in

a desert. The Martu, who are the

traditional owners of this desert

region, belong to the Warnman,

Kartujarra, Manyjilyjarra and

Ngulipartu language groups. They

called the Rudall River ‘Karlamilyi’,

and today there are two main

Aboriginal communities at Punmu

near Lake Dora (Ngayarta Kujarra)

and the Parnngurr community at

Cotton Creek.

Impact offeral camelsOver recent years, feral camel

densities in and around the

Karlamilyi National Park have

increased, leading to the need

to introduce control measures. A

broadscale aerial survey of 78,500

km2, including the entire Karlamilyi

National Park, was conducted by

the Western Australian Department

of Environment and Conservation

(DEC) in 2006 and estimated

the mean camel density at 0.26

camels per km2. These numbers

are significant and demonstrate the

potential threat that feral camels

pose to conservation values in this

area, because research has shown

that once camel numbers exceed

more than 0.2 camels per km2

major damage to vegetation canoccur (Dorges and Heucke 2003).

The survey information contributed

to a national 2008 feral camel

density map that has helped to

guide the Australian Feral Camel

Management Project.

“I understand camel not belonging

to Australia. They are a good

animal but too many is too many,

and it’s hard to control and they

move all over the place. It upset

me and sometimes it makes me

sorry to do what we’re planning

to do but it is getting out of hand

now these days….They’re breeding

more than the dogs I think.”

Butler Landy, Senior Martu

traditional owner



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The effect of grazing on arid and

semi-arid plant communities can

be significant and large groups

of feral camels can completely

destroy an area of vegetation

by trampling and grazing. Feral

camels pose a direct threat to

areas of high conservation value

and can trash, deplete or foul

watering points. This can have a

significant impact on other wildlife

that rely on these often sparse

water sources.

Feral camels damage cultural

sites and rockholes, Aboriginal

community and pastoral

production and infrastructure and

pose a potentially life-threatening

hazard to remote motorists and

pilots.

“On a recent return to country

trip the elders were horrified

when they went back to discover

that these very, very significant

waterholes were just trashed –

too many camels. Far too many

camels for the country to be able

to sustain.”

Peter See, Director Land

Programs, Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa

(KJ)

Within the Karlamilyi National

Park, environmental monitoring

is proving to be invaluable in

assessing the impact of feral

camels on native vegetation and

water places and determining

the improvement when they

are removed. This work is being

conducted by Aboriginal rangers

from KJ with assistance from the

WA Department of Environment

and Conservation using methods

established through the Australian

Feral Camel Management Project.

Vegetation assessments are

being conducted within and

around the park and focus on

plant species that are known to

be preferred by camels including

Santalum lanceolatum (plum bush),

Codonocarpus continifolius (desert

poplar), Eremophylla longifolia

(emu bush), Acacia victoriae,

Acacia tetragonophylla and Acacia

paraneura.

Understanding the impact of

feral camels on water sources is

important due to the high reliance

of desert fauna on these water

sources, especially during the dry

season. Feral camel damage to

water places can include fouling

water through faecal and carcass

contamination. The disturbance

of soil and riparian vegetation can

also significantly reduce the quality

of water available to native wildlife.

Physical and electronic analysis of

water sources is being undertaken

within and around Karlamilyi NP.

Scientific monitoring offeral camel impacts vital



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Managing feralcamelsThe Australian Feral Camel

Management Project has been

set up, with support from the

Australian Government’s Caring for

our Country initiative, to reduce the

densities of feral camels in areas

of known high concentrations and

of high conservation value across

Australia.

As can be seen in the 2011 map

of feral camel density (right), the

Pilbara is one of three regionsin Australia with higher feral

camel densities, and Karlamilyi

National Park is a priority asset

to be protected in this region.

Camels regularly move from desert

country to pastoral properties

during periods of drought in

search of more permanent water

and will generally move out into

undisturbed desert once conditions

are favourable. Satellite tracking

has shown that feral camels can

move large distances in a short

period of time and it is therefore

important to conduct management

over large areas and across all land

tenures.

Under the Australian Feral Camel

Management Project, more than

18,000 feral camels have been

removed from the Pilbara Region

over the past three years, despite

the limitations posed by adverse

weather. With further removal

over the next year or so, we are

hopeful that this work will lead to

a reduced density of feral camels

in Karlamilyi National Park and an

associated reduction in damage.

Feral camel removal in the Pilbara

under the Australian Feral Camel

Management Project is currently

achieved through aerial culling

using accredited government

personnel operating against

a formal Standard Operating

Procedure to ensure humane

and safe operations. Landholder

agreement to undertake such work

is obtained before each operation

and landholders are debriefed at

the end of each operation.

The potential of commercial use

to assist feral camel removal in

the Pilbara was considered, but

the huge distances to the nearest

abattoir capable of processing

camels meant that this was not a

humane or commercially viable

option.

“You know it’s good if we can

highlight the damage feral camels

are doing and it’s not just to the

pastoralists, the pastoralists are

on the edge of it, it’s the impact

on the whole ecology out there

that we got to get people to

understand. That’s why we must

make such a fight to reduce the

numbers.”

Robin Mills, Pastoralist,

Warrawagine Station

Updated (2011) feral camel density map based on new aerial survey

information and extrapolation that assumes an average rate of

population growth of 8% per annum. Dotted blocks indicate aerial

survey areas at the date specified.

0 500 1,000km



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A powerfulpartnership:traditionalknowledge

and modernscienceIn 2009, with funding from the

Australian Government’s Caring for

our Country initiative, Kanyirninpa

Jukurrpa (KJ) and other project

partners undertook a series of

consultations and discussions with

Martu about the impact of feral

camels on Martu priority species,

water sources and other cultural

sites.

The consultations brought together

the different perspectives and

understandings about feral camels

and reviewed the various options

for managing feral camels.

In late 2009, the Martu decided towork with government to actively

manage the feral camels in ‘far

away’ country where Martu were

unable to easily access.

Since then Martu, through KJ

and the Western Desert Lands

Aboriginal Corporation, have been

working with the Department

of Agriculture and Food WA(DAFWA) and DEC to manage

feral camel densities, monitor their

impact on water sources and to

undertake research into camel

movements using collars able to be

tracked by satellites (as shown in

the image on the right).

Working inpartnershipThe Australian Feral Camel

Management Project is a

national approach, which brings

together for the first time all of

the relevant state and territory

governments (WA, NT, SA, Qld),

Aboriginal organisations across

the four jurisdictions (land trusts,

corporations and land councils),

NRM boards, conservation

groups, the pastoral industry and

commercial interests to protect

identified refuges for biodiversity

in northern and remote Australia

that are under threat from feral

camels. In Western Australia,

DAFWA is an active government

partner in the Project.

Tracking camelsFeral camels usually live in

extremely remote locations

and are often difficult to track.

Research being undertaken by

WA government departments

is building on our knowledge of

the impact of feral camels on the

ecosystems of Western Australia’s

arid areas.

Aerial survey techniques, which

were originally developed to

monitor kangaroo and other

wildlife populations in remote

areas, are now being used to

determine the density and

distribution of feral camels across

targeted areas.

In an aerial survey, an aircraft

with three observers flies in an

east-west grid pattern at a height

of 250 feet (76 metres) and a

ground speed of 100 knots (185

km/h). Strips 200 metres wide

are delineated by a rope attached

to wire struts on each side of the

aircraft. Animals sighted between

these rope markers are recorded

by the observers.

Aerial survey work has previously

been conducted by DEC in parts

of the Karlamilyi National Park to

provide a better understanding of

the density and distribution of feral

camels, their seasonal movements

and how they utilise the landscape.

Further aerial surveying of the

Karlamilyi National Park will be

undertaken under the Australian

Feral Camel Management Project

to assess the impact of the Project.

D E S I G N : B I G I

S L A N D G

R A P H I C S

Managing Feral Camel Impacts

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