Keeping camels off roads

Last week, there was a horrible accident in the Negev. A 13-year-old boy was killed (his mother is still in the hospital, unconscious with a brain injury), after the family car struck a camel, a halfton beast that had meandered onto the highway.

During the week, I heard an interview with a Beduin camel owner. He adopted the “poor me” attitude and said something to the effect that there was no way he could keep his animals fenced in. We also heard of this or that plan in the Knesset to avert such tragedies, including, unbelievably, implanting a chip inside the animals (“Calls mount for reining in Beduin camel

owners,” Frontlines, January 19). This way, when the next horrible accident occurs, we will know whose animal was the killer.

Are they serious? How many other people will be killed and maimed in similar circumstances?

As a former Connecticut Yankee, I have certain memories. In northern New England there was a plague of roaming deer. Hunters were issued licenses to kill these animals at certain times of the year, thus culling the herds and lessening the danger.

I am not suggesting this solution for Israel. However, my suggestion would be to send a couple of army sharpshooters along the highway and shoot to kill, say, two camels wandering the roads. This plan could be announced in advance as a warning.

Camels are valued at NIS15,000-20,000. You can bet that the Beduin owners would immediately discover a way of keeping their animals fenced in. THELMA JACOBSON Petah Tikva