Bizarre Botox Scandal Rocks Camel Beauty Pageant in Saudi Arabia
Over 40 camels were found with Botox injections, facelifts and other illegal alterations during a camel beauty pageant in Saudi Arabia.
The King Abdul-Aziz Camel Festival is the largest camel festival in the world. The fest is a major tourist attraction, with a total of over 100,000 visitors per day, and approximately 33,000 camel owners were expected at this year's event alone.
The camel beauty competition portion of the festival has a $66 million prize, but the lengths some contestants go through to try to secure said prize can be despicable.
Cosmetic alterations are prohibited according to AP, but camels with alterations such as Botox injections, facelifts and fillers have sadly been found at the festival over the years, including this year.
According to AP, dozens of breeders had "stretched out the lips and noses of camels, used hormones to boost ... muscle" and even "inflated body parts with rubber bands."
According to CNN, there were 147 cases of "tampering" found in 2021. Meanwhile, 43 contestants were disqualified from the pageant due to "tampering and deception in the beautification of camels." Tampering also includes braiding, dyeing or cutting the tail of the camel.
The camels are judged based on the shape of their head, their necks, humps, dress and posture. X-ray machines and sonar devices are used to help detect tampering while the camels are being examined.
Humans have a choice when it comes to whether or not they want to alter the way they look with procedures like plastic surgery, fillers and more, but animals don't. It's wrong to alter the way animals look using these methods because they don't have a voice in the matter and some alterations could affect their health.
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Gallery Credit: Alicia Selin