Runway scene from the King Adulaziz Camel Festival
where camels were ejected from beauty contest over Botox use and other ‘tampering.’
Organizers of a popular camel beauty contest in Saudi Arabia have disqualified 43 contestants after cracking down on Botox injections and other forms of tampering by breeders.
The 40-day King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, near Riyadh, in its sixth year, sees breeders compete for more than $66 million in cash prizes, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), so the stakes are high.
Unscrupulous breeders have been accused of using a number of methods to make their camels more likely to win, and this year organizers have dealt with the largest number since the festival began.
Marzouk Al-Natto, spokesman for the festival’s legal committee, said that breeders found to be tampering have to pay fines which vary according to the offense, reports SPA.
Camels are an important part of Saudi culture. The animals are well-adapted to life in deserts such as the Arabian Desert, large parts of which lie within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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“mankind is tampering with the fabric of nature and it is not working out well for them.”
― steven macgee
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Credits: Photo credit: Faisal Al-Nasser/AFP/Getty Images, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jack Guy, CNN
There is nothing hollower than the victory that costs your ethics. Interesting and entertaining post, Beth!
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ethics out the window –
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That is unbelievably funny!
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when i read the headline….
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Caleb is getting Botox?! Wait til DK reads this…😂
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I know!
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well, this is enlightening; beauty treatment for animals: is this a bridge too far?
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it is indeed, and purely based on the owner’s greed
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Yes
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I thought it was joke when I read the first line. Really!!!!! Botox to camels?
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no joke, it’s real
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Yes, I read the rest and was disgusted at what people would do for money.
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Yes
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🤨
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It made me laugh so much! If you ever looked a camel in the face you would know that no amount of Botox will make it beautiful or more fit for life in the desert. Too funny!
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)
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I just had to google this to find out more – crazy has just gone to a whole new level. Thanks for a botox-free, eye-opening moment!
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It certainly has
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I am rendered speechless – not an easy task, I assure you!
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It is pretty crazy
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They do have beautiful eye lashes, I’ve been told. But this sounds like a lot of rich people with a lot of excess time on their hands…
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We’ll it really benefits the traders and no benefit to the camels
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All I can say, Beth, is that where there is cash to go with winning, folks will stretch those rules until the line is crossed.
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That’s right
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And I thought putting lipstick on a pig was bad.
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This goes way beyond
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Camels may be well adapted to the desert but not to us!
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They should stay away from us
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So should we!
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There is $66 million up for grabs in the camel beauty industry? Clearly I am in the wrong profession.
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It really benefits the traders and no benefit to the camels
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Well, who knew? I didn’t! I am glad it was not tolerated. Thanks for sharing!
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Same
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Why do some people still think they need to play God… This is simply terrible.
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It is
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A sad state of affairs but fascinating to understand more about the importance of a Camel in that culture
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Yes
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A beauty contest for camels is strange enough. The Botox thing puts it in the stratosphere of weird.
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Everything about it is strange
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Hilarious and sad at the same time. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this could really happen.
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It is both and it is real
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What The _ _ _ _? For real?
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Exactly and yes
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No amount of botox can make a camel beautiful in my eyes. But hey, different strokes for different folks. Poor camels don’t deserve this.
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I side with the camels too
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I think camels are beautiful as they are. It was a magical day for me when I got to ride a camel — OK it was the San Diego Zoo and it was probably exploitative of the camel, but it was a dream come true since I really did want to grow up to be Lawrence of Arabia. I think they are amazing animals.
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Martha, I can guarantee the camel I road in Cairo in 2001 did not have Botox, but was the most beautiful animal to me. It was a dream to ride him many hours when visiting the Pyramids. I’ll never forget it or the guide.
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❤️
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❤️
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that’s an experience I can only dream of. What a wonder that must have been!
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It truly was. I need to write about it. ❣️
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Yes!
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I so agree and I rode one once. They are majestic
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I read that and heard about it – it’s quite incredible, but hey ho, 66mio $ isn’t nothing…. poor camels though!
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Yes,I really feel for the camels
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Hi Beth,
Amazing what people will do , to just get a win!
Wishing you a blessed weekend! ♥♥
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it so is, and only benefits the humans
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Hardly know what to say. It’s so weird and the poor camels. Seems as if others always suffer for what men, who never do anything to THEMSELVES, do to others. If the camels could, they should run away and form a community dedicated to stomping on the men who hurt them. I’d send them treats.
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yes, they have no choice in this and it simply benefits the humans. everything about it is weird from top to bottom. camels don’t deserve this.
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I laughed initially until I read the article. It’s pretty disturbing that humans continue to mess with other living things for their own profit.
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yes, the headline seems crazy and the reality even crazier and sad
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That is an epic quote. Humans and their egos…will we ever learn, Beth? Before it’s too late. I hold hope, yet when I look around, dismay does arise…great post.
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we are not the brightest species
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Exactly so…
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Wow! what will they think of next!
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wish the camels had a say in it –
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The things ‘we’ do to nature 😦
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Awful
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Indeed.
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was it the four humps that tipped off the organizers?
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something is not quite right…
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good article. Thanks for sharing
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My pleasure
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Camels are beautiful and need no Botox.
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No animal does
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Right!
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