Saudi Arabia intends to shelter some one million Australian camels facing extermination after "authorities down under" ordered the killings of the animals to prevent them from overrunning residential areas, a Saudi Arabian newspaper said on Friday.
The measure was taken by the Australian government last week, after hundreds of camels began overcrowding several residential areas in an attempt to find food and water, Al-Hayat said.
According to the paper, some 6,000 hungry camels recently swarmed Australia's northern community of Docker River, forcing people to barricade themselves inside their homes.
To fight camel invasions, local authorities have been using helicopters to herd them some 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) away from residential areas where they were destroyed. Some 3,000 animals have been killed in the country in the last week, the paper said.
The Australian government allocated 19 million Australian dollars (more than $17 million U.S.) to destroy the million camels roaming the country. The authorities claim camels pose a serious threat to the country's environment.
Camels were brought to Australia from Afghanistan in the late 19th century and were used in constructing railways. The animals were then released into the wild where they began to quickly reproduce.
The news about the killings of camels sparked public indignation in Saudi Arabia. A large-scale campaign was launched on the Internet to save the animals, which are not indigenous to the continent.
A Saudi Arabian agriculture ministry official was quoted by Al-Hayat as saying the country's government had approved the idea of sheltering the Australian camels. However, he said, the question was how to organize the evacuation of camels to the Arabian Penisula and what to do with them once they arrive.
