Camel breeding is a multimillion-dollar industry and similar events take place across the region.
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Riyadh: When you hear of ‘beauty pageants’, you probably think of women and men competing to show off their good looks. However, in Saudi Arabia, animals too are subjected to unrealistic beauty standards. Every year, the country hosts King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, where thousands of camels are paraded to be judged on their shapely lips and humps. And in order to enhance their features, owners of these camels reportedly use cosmetic surgery! Yes, it’s true.
Cracking down on the use of botox injections and other cosmetic alterations, Saudi authorities have now banned more than 40 camels from the beauty pageant. Many participants at the festival were found to have stretched the camel’s lips and noses, used hormones and rubber bands to make their muscles appear larger and injected botox to make their heads and lips bigger, reports AP. Other measures included inflating body parts with rubber bands and using fillers to relax their faces. Judges for the contest said they were using “specialized and advanced” technology to detect cosmetic modifications this year.
“The club is keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels,” the Saudi Press Agency report said, adding organisers would “impose strict penalties on manipulators”.
Notably, the festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for $66 million in prize money. Botox injections, face lifts and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and postures.
Camel breeding is a multimillion-dollar industry and similar events take place across the region.
(With inputs from Associated Press)
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