“Judas camels” wearing tracking technology could help curb the number of feral camels in central Australia, a study has found.



The Murdoch University study found that the “Judas technique”, which involves using an animal to lead shooters to feral herds, can effectively be used against camels because they don’t live in family groups, instead shifting from one herd to another. This means a “Judas camel” can lead shooters to many herds.

A camel is collared in the Murdoch University trial. Photograph: Jordan Hampton/Murdoch University

Associate professor Peter Spencer, whose previous work included working out the lineage of presidential racing camels in the United Arab Emirates, said a genetic analysis of 1,000 feral camels in outback Western Australia showed they lived in “very, very loose fusion-fission groups”.

The study trialled the use of 10 Judas camels. The technique involves fixing a satellite or radio tracker to one camel and then tracking it back to a herd.

“It’s usually a female, because they are a lot more accepted moving in and out of different groups,” Spencer said.

“It will go out and find a group and then you can go and find the group and control it – hopefully not including the Judas camel – and then that Judas camel will go and find another group.”

The method is similar to the traditional use of “Judas goats” in abattoirs, where one goat is used to lead other animals calmly into the slaughterhouse.

The camels are “controlled” by being rounded up and shot from helicopters.

A collared camel sets off in search of a herd. Photograph: Jordan Hampton/Murdoch University

An audit of an aerial camel cull in 2003, conducted by veterinarian Jordan Hampton for the Australian feral camel management project, found that 99.6% of camels died within four seconds of being shot and 83% died instantly, making it a relatively humane death.

Spencer said species that formed close matriarchal bonds, like elephants, did not make good Judases, because they were unable to move on from the killing of their family.

He said results showed the technique could be effective in controlling Australia’s feral camels, which remained surprisingly elusive despite their massive population.

“You can go out and search, you can look, you can see some camels, you can go back to get your gear and your buddies, but when you come back to find the camels they’re gone,” Spencer said.

There are estimated to be between 600,000 and 1m camels in the arid centres of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia.

About 10,000 camels were introduced to Australia in the 19th century for use as pack animals, but Spencer said the population exploded in the late 1900s and now doubled every eight years.

Culling programs kill between 20,000 and 30,000 camels a year, but Spencer said that number would need to be increased to 60,000 just to keep pace with population growth.

“We are well short of being able to get to a situation where we are having an effect on the population,” he said.

Spencer said the ecological damage a 100-strong herd of 700kg camels could do to fragile desert ecosystems was as bad as damage caused by feral cats.

A herd researchers can track because it has been joined by a “Judas camel”. Photograph: Jordan Hampton/Murdoch University

“It looks like someone has just come through with a whipper-snipper,” he said.

They have also been known to push over windmills and destroy toilet blocks in search of water.

“If you have a dripping tap, they will rip it from the wall,” Spencer said.