Camels’ beauty pageant bid botoxed

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is racking up quite a reputation as an anti-graft activist. Nor is he chary of disrupting tradition and protocol considering he had the gumption to imprison his own family members as part of his anti-corruption drive. So, Saudis should have seen the imminent sandstorm when he was named as head of the Camel Club and ordered the month-long King Abdulaziz Camel Festival to be shifted from the desert to the outskirts of Riyadh.

The disqualification of 12 quadruped contestants from a pageant at the hugely popular camel conclave as they had been administered Botox to enhance their pouts was, thus, inevitable.

The unscrupulous owners obviously thought their remoulded protégés were over the hump once they were enrolled, but rules for camels are not the same as those for humans. Only even-toed ungulates — male or female — with the best naturally curly hair, pert ears, long lashes and high, centred hump in six categories are eligible to win $5.2 million each.


It may be unfair but the fact is that while enhancements are allowed in beauty contests for humans, this Saudi pageant expressly forbids “camels that are found with drugs in the lips, shaved, dyed in any parts of the body, or with changes from natural form”. Clearly, many more Augean stables will be cleaned before this Prince is through.