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Riyadh: The Saudi Shura (Consultative) Council is set to take up the recent spate of camel deaths during its Monday session in what is considered a response to the mounting criticism of the authorities.
Some 2,000 camels died in the past three weeks in the kingdom. The Minister of Agriculture, Abdul Rahman Balghunaim, had told the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) in August that the cause of the deaths is not an infectious disease, adding the animals were fed contaminated bran.
Official figures put the total number of camels in Saudi Arabia in 2005 at 862,000. Saudis breed camels for milk, meat and races.
Criticism
Since the announcement of camel deaths in the kingdom in the second week of August, breeders continue to criticise the concerned authorities for not taking enough measures to control the death toll.
The Saudi Control and Investigation Commission, a government agency concerned about the performance of government departments, has joined breeders in criticising the Ministry of Agriculture for the delay in announcing the results of the samples taken from the first group of dead camels.
Since the announcement of camel deaths, breeders are facing a setback in their business. One breeder told a local newspaper his customers, who used to buy camel milk from him everyday, have stopped coming even after he dropped milk prices.
The Ministry of Agriculture said it did its best to control the death of camels.
Balghunaim told reporters last week that samples from dead camels were sent for laboratory tests in France besides tests in the kingdom. He added that the samples analyzed locally proved that the main reason was the bran fed to the camels. He added that cooperation is underway with the Ministry of Interior to investigate the situation.
He assured breeders that they would be compensated according to the directives of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz.
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