Courtesy of Danielle Langloism, Wikipedia CCLFeral Goat Abattoir
SPENCER GULF, Australia — An Egyptian company has teamed with Aboriginal people in South Australia to build a $15 million abattoir, or slaughter house, to process feral goats and camels.
The plant would process at least 500 camels and 1,500 goats a day, with members of Aboriginal communities rounding up the animals, said Magdiens spokesman, Madgy Ashram.
“When we start, we’ll have about 200 jobs and when we go full capacity we might go to 400 and then you’ll have the benefits for the Aboriginal people that are going to get work,” Ashram said.
Feral goats, first introduced by European settlers, are a big problem for Australia and New Zealand. Numbering in the millions, the goats cost farmers more than $25 million a year in crop losses, an estimate that doesn’t include damage from soil erosion and pasture degradation.
On the positive side, commercial exploitation of feral goats is an industry worth about $29 million annually. Many Australian farmers consider the capture and sale of feral goats an essential part of their business and are crossing Boer bucks with feral goats to produce a heavier animal for export.
