A scandal has erupted at an annual camel beauty pageant in Oman, with 20 contestants disqualified for using botox, the Daily Mail reports.
During an inspection, judges discovered that the camels had undergone banned cosmetic procedures to enhance their appearance before the competition.
Camel beauty pageants are a cultural icon in the Gulf countries and attract thousands of animals, whose owners compete for millions of dollars in prizes. Wanting to improve their chances, some owners have resorted to trickery, using botox injections to enlarge the animals’ lips, noses and jaws, injecting silicone into their humps and using hormones to build muscle. Camel breeding is a major industry in the region.
This is not the first time animals have been disqualified for “beauty injections”: in 2021, more than 40 camels were found to have been injected with Botox at an exhibition in Saudi Arabia. The organizers of the Oman Camel Club festival have stated their determination to stop all acts of forgery and fraud and have promised to impose strict sanctions on violators. It was previously reported that a live camel participating in a Bible performance injured an audience member during a service in Houston, USA. The incident took place at Champion Forest Baptist Church.
