Camels 'left to rot' after mass cull

The owner of a Central Australian cattle station is angry that camel carcasses have been left to rot after recent culls.

Ian Conway runs Kings Creek Station near where 5,000 camels have been shot from helicopters in the past fortnight.

Mr Conway has acknowledged that camel numbers need to be cut because of the significant ecological and pastoral damage the animals cause.

But he says previous culls have shown it is cruel to shoot them and leave them to rot.

"We've been along and seen where camels have kicked for 20 minutes, half an hour, a couple of hours in some instances, still alive," he said.

"All that did was increase the population of dingoes around Docker River and blowflies.

"And the stench around the country was unbelievable. I spoke to many Aboriginal men who said they'd left the country because it was too rotten to stay there for up to six months."

Mr Conway says camels should be taken to an abattoir in Caboolture in south-east Queensland for meat rather than left on the ground.

"If they were caught, even if half of them were caught, that's revenue for people in the Territory," he said.

"In Caboolture they'll take as many as we possibly can get. They'll actually send the trucks over to pick them up and pay you at the doorstep - $220 a head."

Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson says he will investigate the claims.

"That should absolutely be done humanely, and I don't know where those reports are coming from, but we'll certainly look into them," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-09/culls-leave-camels-to-rot/3656018