Feral Camels in Australia

Camels came to Australia in the mid 1800s, along with cameleers from British India and Afghanistan. They were used to build roads, bridges, airstrips and the railways. Cameleers ran camel trains, transporting goods and wool bales across Australia. Some of these camels escaped into the outback. When motor vehicles replaced the use of camels, many were turned loose. There were as many as a million feral camels in 2008, roaming 1.3 million square miles of sparsely populated outback. The Australian government is attempting to reduce their numbers. Camel meat and riding camels are sold to the Middle East countries. The last official count I could find was around 300,000 to 600,000 feral camels in 2013. The majority are dromedaries, the one hump type of camel. The government is promoting camel meat in Australia. The Aussies that we met were not convinced.