JEDDAH, 10 January 2008 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has ordered the payment of SR20,000 per animal to the owners of camels that died after eating toxic feed, Interior Minister Prince Naif announced yesterday.
Prince Naif commended the king’s humanitarian gesture and said the financial assistance would alleviate the difficulties of many citizens in various parts of the Kingdom who had lost their camels.
According to press reports, nearly 5,000 camels and other animals died in various parts of the Kingdom. Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahd Balghunaim consistently ruled out claims that the deaths were caused by an infectious disease.
Tests conducted on the dead animals showed that toxins in animal feed rather than any contagious disease were to blame for the deaths. The tests were conducted in laboratories both inside and outside Saudi Arabia.
“The tests were carried out on samples taken from dead animals and suspicious feed as well as on pesticides, cyanides, nitrates, urea and phenol, and radioactive materials,” the ministry said.
“The results showed that the samples contained salinomycin, a compound to which camels are highly allergic. Laboratory tests showed that the bran used to feed camels contained high concentrations of this compound,” the ministry said.
Another toxic substance found in large quantities in the feed was aspergillus clavatus, which is a fungus.
