In a tiny dot on the map of Australia’s vast northern deserts a mob is rampaging. Fences have been flattened, pipes unearthed, taps torn from walls and toilet cisterns demolished. It is so hot even the camels have the hump.
The mob mostly strikes Mount Liebig, about 200 miles west of Alice Springs, at night. Northern Territory officials say they have travelled hundreds of miles to lay siege to the isolated town. The group of 1,000 camels, parched even by a camel’s standards, has wandered in search of water. Even air conditioners are a target as searing temperatures show little sign of letting up across the country.
“They’re coming into the community at night, when everyone’s asleep, drinking what water they can find, ripping taps off,” Joshua Burgoyne, the Northern Territory’s environment minister, said on Friday. “And then, of a morning, council workers are having to go around, move these camels out, quite literally, herd them out of the community so that it’s safe for the residents to walk around.”
Thirsty camels storm outback town as heat nears 50C
Camels were introduced into Australia in 1840 as a means of transporting explorers inland. Their numbers in the wild now exceed a million and they range over a vast area of the outback, covering arid parts of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The group of camels in Mount Liebig, about 200 miles west of Alice Springs
They can survive for weeks without drinking water so long as they can access moisture from plants and can rely on fat stored in their humps for energy. But extreme heat like central Australia has been experiencing this week has prompted a hunt for water.
“A lot of homes have external taps, and I’ve seen pictures where the taps have been ripped off the walls and there’s essentially water all throughout the front yard,” said Burgoyne, who warned that the animals faced a cull. “When they’re looking for water, they’re quite literally pushing over metal fences. It has been so dry for many months.”
There seems little prospect of the heat letting up. Parts of Australia are expecting to face record-breaking temperatures again next week. In Marble Bar, known as Australia’s hottest town and located 900 miles north of the West Australian capital Perth, the official temperature approached 50C this week but locals insist it was far hotter.
“The temperature gauge that I just bought, with the barometer and everything, I was very disappointed with it because it only goes up to 50C,” Neil Munro, who owns a caravan park in Marble Bar, said. “It hit 50C yesterday, but the electronic one [gauge] got up above 53C.”