"We had all gathered around
the fire to brainstorm the fate of Australia's rangelands given
the recent advances in genetic engineering."
Imagine if you could gather representatives
from every facet of society with an interest in the Australian rangelands;
environmentalists, animal activists, pastoralists, marketing gurus,
dieticians - even textile engineers - and design the most environmentally friendly yet economically
viable land use. What would the group
come up with?
In his book, Red Sand Green Heart, John
takes us on an imaginary journey...
"All of us had a stake and
a genuine interest in developing the ultimate outback plant or
animal that would provide the best food source for our ever-increasing
population. Our collective task was to conceptualise the single
organism that would best suit the interest of the bushies, the
environmentalists and the big-city consumers."
"Our prototype would enable
the genetic engineers to develop a product that was compatible
with the environment, could be harvested with minimal use of energy
and infrastructure and that was desirable to consumers, whether
their motivations were health, taste, prevention of cruelty or
resource sustainability."
The first question is - flora or fauna?
Does the future lay in crops or meat production. The first answer
was clear. Crops of any kind require fairly reliable rainfall and
the outback's sandy soil is amazingly infertile, so it quickly
becomes apparent that we have to focus
on an animal.
"We were going to start
from scratch to develop a genetically engineered animal . .
. . a gengelope."
So what constitutes the "perfect animal"?
The animal must be subject minimal handling
and treatment throughout its life. No dehorning or castration, branding
or ear-tagging. The animals must also be able to be transported
and slaughtered without stress and suffering.
The meat must be lean, low in cholesterol
and rich in protein, tender, tasty and easy to cook. The animal
must not be exposed to antibiotics, hormones or other substances
which could affect consumers' health. The animal must not be susceptible
to diseases which could be transferred to humans.
The hide of the animal must be lightweight,
strong, supple and tear-proof for the creation of a new textile
- a "designer leather".
The gengelope must be able to thrive
on naturally occuring vegetation and water sources, and be wide-ranging
and able to move around taking advantage of patchy rainfall. It
must also coincide its breeding to favourable weather conditions,
however sporadic, to avoid the loss of young animals during unexpected
droughts.
The animal must also require minimal
management, monitoring, fencing and specialist infrastructure on
the land, while being resistant to disease and flies.
The production of the animal must not
threaten any native plants or animals, for example, it must not
preferentially graze on seedling trees like rabbits and some stock.
It must also have an efficient gait and padded feet that do not
destroy the soil crust the way hooves do.
"I asked my graphic
artist and lateral-thinking mate Dave Kovac to come up with a
master plan of the gengelope to assist the DNA jockeys with
their mission. These genetic engineers had been scribbling down
the wish list and looking more and more fazed, suspecting that
we had pushed their technology beyond its limits. However, in my
dream world there are no limits. So I threw the cap from a
celebratory bottle of rum and toasted my happily buzzing
companions."
Imagination is a fine thing, and the
above creature might be no more than a dream at the moment, but what
if there was an animal already in existence which fit quite a few of
the above criteria?
Stay tuned . . .
