Australia Considers Killing Camels to Tackle Climate Change

Camels sit on beach at Noosa, Queensland, Australia. (AP)

Kill a camel to stop pollution? That's what Australia is considering.

The Land Down Under is considering killing feral camels to help tackle climate change, according to a report by news service AFP.

The suggestion came in a paper from the country's Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. A camel produces methane equivalent to one ton of of carbon dioxide a year, making the animal one of the country's biggest greenhouse gasses emitters, it noted.

A commercial company, Northwest Carbon, has proposed culling more than one million camels in the Australian Outback to eliminate that gas emissions, according to AFP.

In the proposed plan, the company would shoot the camels from a helicopter or round them up and send them to a slaughterhouse.

"We're a nation of innovators and we find innovative solutions to our challenges -- this is just a classic example," Northwest Carbon managing director Tim Moore told Australian Associated Press.

Australia's government is considering the idea and legislation for the "Carbon Farming Initiative" will go before the country's parliament next week.