Plans are underway for one of the first Australian camel industry trade and study mission trips of its kind in the hope it may finally lead to better management practices of wild populations.
Pending COVID-19 travel restrictions, camel enthusiasts will travel to Kenya, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to develop business links and gain an insight into all aspects of the supply chain overseas including million dollar animals, abattoirs and dairies.
Paddy McHugh, Australian Camel Breeders and Racing Incorporated president and member of the International Camel Organisation of Saudi Arabia, will lead the tour.
He said the Australian camel industry had stagnated and it needed to move forward.
In 45 years of catching and working in the Australian camel industry Mr McHugh had never seen so many areas and pockets of wild camels, with some areas where a dozen lived now exploding to 200.
Speaking from his own experience, he had received more than 1000 separate inquiries for Australian camel meat and believed it was time government led the charge to establish abattoirs at Alice Springs and Kalgoorlie and better utilise the often culled product.
"At present the value of a camel in Australia is nothing, the cost of one or two bullets ....if things went well," he said.
"But on the flip side a male camel sold in Saudi Arabia when I was there in January for 7.5 million Euro, another female fetched 4.5 million Euro."
He believed there was strong interest in the Australian animals from Saudi Arabia.
"It's just the most underdeveloped resource we have in Australia," he said.
"It is just pure ignorance why we don't embrace it and that's what this trip is designed to do - change the train of thinking but change to a commercial outlook. Stop the slaughter and get on with it."
The tour will run during October and November 2021 for 16 days as key industry figures in the three countries show their world and what makes it thrive.
For more information contact paddy@paddymchugh.com
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
