RIYADH, 26 August 2007 — Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahd Balghonaim said yesterday he would not rule out the possibility of foul play in the deaths of 1,982 camels.
A breakdown of the figures released by the minister shows that the largest number of deaths occurred in the Riyadh region (Wadi Dawasir-1,008, Al-Sulayl-14), followed by Makkah (452), Asir (212), Najran (191) and Jizan (105).
“It could be foul play. We don’t know yet, since the investigation is still going on,” the minister said at a press conference attended by Deputy Minister Muhammad Al-Sheha and other senior ministry officials. He added that the bran produced as feed for the camels was not infected or contaminated but arose from distribution chain and was the result of poisoning outside the factory. “We are working in collaboration with our technical experts and laboratories outside the Kingdom in order to identify the poisoning material. Only then can we take counter-measures to solve the problem. We also want to know where the material came from.”
The minister said a common factor in all the deaths was that their feedstock was bran. “We took bran samples from locations where these camels died and subjected them to tests in the veterinary laboratories.”
What is clear at this stage, according to Dr. Balghonaim, was that the bran was poisoned before being sold to the farmers. He explained that the bran coming out of the factory goes to the Grain Silos and Flour Mills Organization (GSFMO) for storage. GSFMO in turn hands it over to distributors, all non-Saudis, for sale to Saudi farmers. It was at the third stage, while being distributed by some expatriates, that they discovered the presence of the poisoning material.
In the meantime, technical teams had fanned out to all the affected areas and were administering injections to the camels as part of the damage-control exercise. “These measures have had an impact, and now the camels are improving. Though the death toll has risen to 1,982, as a result of the measures taken, the deaths have stopped.” The Kingdom’s camel population is estimated at 850,000.
Ministry officials point out that camel breeding in the Kingdom is undertaken for various purposes — racing, milk production, and also for beauty contests. Some owners did not bury the animals out of apprehension that they might not be eligible for compensation in the absence of any evidence. The stench emanating from the carcasses raised concerns that they could infect other animals or even humans. As a preventive measure, a technical team sprayed them with germicide to fight the spread of infection. In addition, the carcasses of dead camels whose owners have received compensation have been buried.
