Australian camels could be shot to curb methane

AP foreign, Thursday June 9 2011

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Marksmen could be paid to slaughter Australia's vast population of methane-belching camels that roam the Outback as part of an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The government wants the killing of wild camels to be officially registered as a means of reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions under a proposed law to be voted on in parliament next week, with the shooters earning so-called carbon credits.

If culling is registered, industrial polluters around the world would be able to offset their own carbon emissions by buying carbon credits from the shooters.

Lawmaker Mark Dreyfus said Thursday that he hopes attaching carbon credits to each camel killed leads to their extinction in the Australian wild.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9687207