The municipality has equipped with the latest technology the five slaughtering units in the Muaysem neighborhood. The slaughterhouses carry a combined capacity to slaughter 650,000 heads of cattle.

"The municipality intends to make the rite of animal sacrifice hassle-free for pilgrims and at the same time not cause any environmental issues or hygienic threat," Makkah Mayor Osama Al-Barr said in a statement on Saturday.

The municipality set up 57 checkpoints at all entry-points to the holy sites to stop any diseased animals entering the slaughterhouses, the mayor said.

"They include 12 checkpoints east of the King Faisal Bridge, six to the south toward Aziziyah, five in the west past the Jamarat Al-Aqabah, six in the north in Al-Ghasslah, and 10 on the road leading to Al-Aseela Slaughterhouse," he said.

More than 600 security men are posted to regulate the entry of sacrificial animals to the holy sites.

He added that sick animals were quarantined at a special area and traders who bring them in would be punished.