They Came From The Desert

And they came, and they came, and they came!:

RESIDENTS in a small central Australian community are being held hostage by a herd of thirsty, marauding camels.

Docker River, 500km south west of Alice Springs, has been inundated by thousands of feral camels in recent weeks.

The Northern Territory Government today said it would conduct an emergency cull of some 6000 feral camels.

As well as the camels smashing water infrastructure in their hunt for moisture, the quality of drinking water in the town is being threatened by the decaying bodies of camels that have been trampled by their herd.

The camels have over-run the airport, making it near impossible for aircraft to land or for medical emergency evacuations to take place.

MacDonnell Shire Council chief executive officer, Graham Taylor said many members of the community were too frightened to leave their homes.

...Mr Taylor said residents were not overly concerned when about 30 camels came into the town looking for water a few weeks ago, but that fear had grown as numbers increased steadily day by day.

..."They're actually coming up to the houses taking water off the overflow from the rooftop air-conditioning.

"This is a very critical situation out there, it's very unusual and it needs urgent action.''

Mr Knight said the camel carcasses would be left in the desert to decay.

"We don't have the luxury of time because the herd is getting bigger.''