JEDDAH, 17 August 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has ordered the payment of compensations to the herdsmen whose camels died recently showing symptoms of consuming toxic substances, the Saudi Press Agency quoted Minister of Agriculture Fahd Balghunaim as saying yesterday.

Deaths of a large number of camels were reported from Wadi Al-Dawasser governorate and other places after they showed symptoms of poisoning.

An official of the Agricultural Ministry dismissed the presence of any camel disease in the region and attributed the mysterious deaths over the past few days to a cattle feed containing toxic substances supplied in markets of the region.

Muhammad Al-Shaiha, assistant undersecretary for animal resources at the ministry, said in a press statement on Wednesday: “On receiving reports of animal deaths the ministry sent a veterinary team to inspect the animals and found that the deaths were caused by the spasm of the nervous system, which led to a state of paralysis, loss of consciousness and eventual death.” He said the animals that ate a particular type of feed have shown the symptoms. “The deaths are not caused by any type of illness.”

Al-Shaiha said that a total of 232 camels died while several other camels responded to treatment by the veterinary team, according to the Arabic daily Al-Watan.

The official said the team sent samples taken from the dead animals for further investigations.

On the other hand, Ali Al-Hasawi, a member of a veterinary team that treated a number of cases in the region, said the right treatment for the disease could not be decided without getting the results of the laboratory tests and identifying the real cause of the deaths. “The results of the laboratory tests will soon reveal if the deaths are caused by any toxic feed or by some virus spreading in the air. Reports indicate that the disease is spreading in a noticeable manner in different regions in the Kingdom,” the veterinarian said.

Meanwhile, local residents complained that the animal bodies posed a serious environment threat in the region. They say the foul odor from the carcasses is spreading in the villages making it impossible for people to move about freely.

Abdullah Al-Saeed, an official of the local municipality, said that steps were under way to burn and bury the bodies.