Australian police were Thursday hunting for leads after a pet camel called Noodles was shot and decapitated at an outback farm, possibly by a trophy hunter, depriving the owner of his “best mate.”

Neale McShane, an officer at the remote Birdsville police station in Queensland, said the camel was killed at a cattle station outside the town, on the edge of the Simpson Desert 1,590 kilometres (1,000 miles) west of Brisbane.

“An unknown person called the camel, Noodles, over -- and he went because he was a friendly camel and he thought he was probably going to get a scratch,” he told AFP.

“But they put a bullet through his head and then decapitated him with a saw and took the head away, we think as a trophy.”

He said the camel, which apparently earned its name after taking a peculiar interest in anyone crunching two-minute noodle, was well-known in the area.

“We don‘t get too much crime out here,” said McShane of the outpost that is best known for the annual Birdsville Races, when the population of 100 swells to around 6,000.

“This is the worst in at least two years.”

The camel’s owner Shawn McCulloch, who has spent the past four years attempting to make an epic journey on foot with the aid of camels from Brisbane in Australia‘s east to Broome in the west, said he was devastated.

“He was my best mate -- we had some great times, he made me laugh, he would sit down next to my tent, so he was well-loved and well-cared for,” he told ABC radio.

“I made sure he had the best of grains and the best of hay, and the best of lucerne (high quality hay). We don’t know, we probably will never ever know why they decided to cut his head off or shoot him, we don‘t know why. It just doesn’t make sense.” (AFP)



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애완동물에 총 쏘고 참수 ’엽기행각’


최근 ‘누들스’라는 이름의 한 애완용 낙타가 총에 맞은 후 목이 잘린 상태로 발견된 사건에 대해 호주 경찰이 전리품 사냥꾼의 범행으로 추정된다고 밝혔다.

호주 퀸즈랜드의 버즈빌 경찰서 소속의 닐 맥셰인 경관은 이 낙타가 버즈빌 외곽의 한 농장에서 발견됐다고 진술했다.

그는 AFP를 통해 “범인은 낙타를 꾀어 내 머리에 총을 쏜 후 톱을 이용해 시신을 훼손한 것으로 보인다. 낙타의 머리는 범인이 기념품 삼아 가져간 것으로 추정된다.”고 말했다.

다소 특이한 이름을 지닌 이 낙타는 이 지역에서는 이미 유명했다.

희생된 낙타의 주인 숀 맥쿨로크는 지난 4년간 낙타와 함께 브리즈번에서 출발해 서부로 가는 호주 횡단여행을 계획하고 있었으나 동반자인 낙타를 잃고 실의에 빠진 것으로 알려졌다. (코리아헤럴드)