Getting the hump: Camels in human care are domesticated

 

 

Picture courtesy:  http://www.peppermintnarwhal.com/

Getting the hump: 

Camels in human care are domesticated 

 

Despite the fact that it has not being supported by bonafide empirical scientific research, the British government has now passed a law that they plan to ban wild animals in circuses by the 20 January 2020. The law does not cover domestic animals but what is intriguing is how the British government define domesticate.

In terms of this British act “wild animal” means: "wild animal” means an animal of a kind which is not commonly domesticated in Great Britain. This is an interesting turn of phrase because it does not allow some animals that are truly domesticated globally to be displayed in British circuses and a case in point is the camel.

 

Camels belong to a group of animals classified as camelids which also includes the guanaco and its domestic counterpart the llama and vicuña and it's domesticated counterpart the alpaca. There are three living species of camel. The Arabian or Dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius), the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) and wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus). The Dromedary camel is a familiar sight in Middle Eastern countries. This animal is truly domesticated with its wild counterparts dying out 2000 years ago . So consequently no wild Dromedary camels exist anywhere in the world.

It is sometimes cited that there are wild species of this camel living in Australia. This is an error, as these animals were imported to Australia in the 19th century as working animals. These groups of camels now living in the Australian outback are in fact domestic animals that have become feral .

The wild Bactrian camel is a critically endangered species of camel living in parts of northern China and southern Mongolia. It is distantly related to the domestic Bactrian camel. Both have the familiar double hump but they are in fact two different species that diverged from each other some 700,000 years ago. Moreover, there are no wild Bactrian camels (Camelus ferus) in human care.

Governmental Double Standard

In 2018, the government introduced The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations . This prescribed the need for animals that were presented to the public to be inspected and licensed which did not fall under the auspices of legislation such as the Zoo Licensing Act and The Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 . This legislation covers domestic animals presented in circuses. The British government (or at least its advisors at DEFRA ) seem to have a very bizarre idea about what actually constitutes a domestic animal. It's almost as if they have written the criteria in the bill to ban wild animals in circuses in a vexatious way directed exclusively at circuses and not any other kinds of animal enterprises that display animals to the public.

So we now have a situation where licensed animal enterprises that have camels can display them at any public display but not in a circus ring even if it means animals travelling to different venues. One couldn't help but think again that the ban of animals in circus is completely discriminatory against a certain sector of society and pandering to the animal rights lobby rather an effort to ensure the high standards of animal welfare.

 

A pair of Bactrian camel in a field grazing.
Picture courtesy Circus Mondao taken July 31, 2019