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‘Aussies should eat camels. They’re delicious’

Australia’s North African community wants the rest of the nation to eat camels rather than just killing them as pests.

One seller said the meat is the nation’s best-kept culinary secret.

“It’s one of the best things you can have — it’s a very rich meat, high in protein,” Melbourne butcher Abukar Hersi, from Somalia, told the ABC.

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“We have some Australians coming in saying ‘I’d like to have a try’, we’ve had MasterChef buy from us, so it’s getting popular now.

“I think when Australians realise, we will see camel meat in every butcher and supermarket.”

More than 1 million wild camels are estimated to be roaming Australia’s deserts, covering 3.3 million square kilometres.

Camels are slaughtered at an abattoir in Alice Springs before being distributed nationally and internationally. But this abattoir has only been able to process about 200 camels in the last 12 months.

Meat exporters have reportedly asked the government to redirect money for culling towards subsidising freight costs.

Australia’s camel culls shock those in African and Middle Eastern countries, where the meat is considered a delicacy.

“People in the Middle East see Australia killing camels and cannot believe it,” Mr Hersi said.

“There is a lot of interest.”

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