JEDDAH, 27 August 2007 — According to butchers and restaurants, the demand for camel meat has decreased since news spread about the deaths of hundreds of camels, which are suspected to have died from poison fodder.

Butchers and restaurants selling camel meat have expressed concern that people are growingly uninterested in buying camel meat. Camel meat and milk is popular in the Kingdom.

“Though the affected areas are far from Jeddah, people are scared of eating camel meat and preferring to stay away from it,” a butcher was quoted as saying by Al-Madinah newspaper.

Saeed Asiri, a Saudi who said he loves camel meat, said that since he heard news about camels dying in different parts of the Kingdom he has stopped buying camel meat. “I used to like it and I even used to buy it daily. Now, however, I prefer to stay away from it to protect my family’s health,” he said.

Ali bin Saad said that he used to buy camel meat every Thursday. “There is a shop next to my house that sells fresh camel meat every Thursday. I was a loyal customer at that shop, but my family reused to buy camel meat after they learned about camels dying across the Kingdom,” he said.

Abdul Rahman Al-Olayan said that his wife went hysterical when he once came home with some take-away food containing camel meat. “She wouldn’t eat it and made me go and get something else,” said Al-Olayan, adding that the news has scared many people and stopped them from buying meat, especially since the real cause of the deaths has not yet been identified.

Abu Muhammad owns a shop specializing in livers. “Following the news, customers are no longer willing to buy camel liver,” he said, adding that the media has exaggerated the whole thing and frightened people from buying camel products.

Naim Muhammad, a butcher, told Al-Madinah that he used to buy three camels every Tuesday. “I also offer fresh camel meat every Thursday. People cluster at the shop since morning to buy it. However, the number of customers have decreased after the crisis though Jeddah is far away from the areas where the camels died,” he said.