Guest Post by James Dean
You might have heard about beauty contests since they are widely popular, have been for years and capture our attention. We are excited to know which specific traits help someone to become the winner of such contests. Here she comes, Miss Luxembourg.
But have you heard about beauty contests happening for animals as well? The Saudi authorities have recently conducted a grand camel beauty contest. I kid you not!
The event was organized with a specific set of instructions according to which camels must be presented in the contest with their original beauty. It was not allowed to make any artificial enhancement on their body appearance or facial features. However, not all the participants followed the criteria and were ultimately banned from entry into the contest.
Recent news reveals that several camel contestants in this event received artificial touch-ups and Botox injections. As a result, more than 40 such camels got disqualified from the annual pageant event. Now, I know what you’re thinking, camels with duck lips, c’mon man!
The King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is one of the biggest events celebrated every year in Saudi Arabia. It was announced during the earlier this month and several breeders were invited to take part in the contest with their “beautiful” camels.
The prize money for the winner was $66 million and every team was eager to grab the top rank in the competition. Botox injections, cosmetic alternations and facelifts were strictly banned in this contest and the winners were planned to be announced on the basis of the actual shape of the camel’s humps, necks, head, postures and dress. Fashionably stylish shoes were prohibited, however.
Judges at this grand festival organized at desert northwest in Saudi Capital took the initiative to track down the artificial enhancements over participating camels. They used some advanced and specialized technologies to detect tampering and accordingly, the decision about the ban was given. One problem that was detected was that the Quasimodo hunchback was riding one of the camels and the judges couldn’t decide which hump was prettier.
Anyhow, the authorities observed that several breeders used injections and Botox treatments to stretch out the lips and noses of the camels. However, many others used hormone-based treatments to boost the muscles of these animals. Many of them used rubber bands to inflate specific body parts of the camels and others considered fillers to relax their face. Camel spa days were also outlawed.
The club is very alert to such activities and will be imposing serious penalties on the breeders for their manipulations. Note that the camel beauty contest is an integral part of a massive carnival and this event also features camel races along with many other festive vibes.
People come to enjoy these events from various locations. The main goal behind organizing this contest is to preserve the role of the camel in Bedouin tradition as well as heritage. With the influence of such a vision, camel breeding has become a multi-million dollar industry and similar kinds of events keep on taking place from time to time around the country.
As a pre-emptive strike the organization has also outlawed camel, camel-toe Botox injections to make the females look more desirable. No one, except for maybe a male camel, wants to see duck lips on both ends of the beast.