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Twenty camels were disqualified from an Oman beauty pageant for receiving cosmetic enhancements
“We are keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels,” organizers from the 2026 Camel Beauty Show Festival said
Critics have condemned these cosmetic procedures on camels as animal cruelty
A camel beauty pageant in Oman is facing a scandal after 20 of its competitors were disqualified for receiving unusual enhancements.
According to Vice and Forbes, 20 camel owners had their animals disqualified from the 2026 Camel Beauty Show Festival in Al Musanaa, Oman, last month after veterinary inspectors discovered that the camels had undergone several cosmetic procedures to enhance their appearance.
The outlets reported that the disqualified camels had received a mix of injectables, including hyaluronic acid injections to their lips, dermal fillers and silicone around their nose, Botox to soften their faces, silicone wax to inflate their humps, and more.
“We are keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels,” festival organizers with the Camel Club and the Oman Camel Racing Federation said in a statement, as they added that they would impose “strict penalties on manipulators.”
A view from the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, India, in 2025.
Credit: Himanshu Sharma/NurPhoto via Getty
According to Forbes, camels participating in these beauty contests — common in upper-class camel breeding communities — are judged in four main categories: coat, neck, head and hump.
Judges look for the animals with the shiniest hair of a definable color, a long, wide, muscular neck, a large head with large lips, long eyelashes, and a well-shaped hump with good posture.
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As Vice put it, camel beauty contests aren’t considered “a silly novelty event,” as they draw interest from tourists, investors, and more.
Camel breeders — many of whom have been in the community for generations — who win awards at these events often take home large cash prizes, which can also raise an animal’s value.
This isn’t the first time the camel beauty pageant community has dealt with scandal.
In Saudi Arabia, officials at the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, also known as Miss Camel, have barred camel owners from competing for alleged enhancements to lips, noses, heads, and body parts.
In 2018, 12 animals were disqualified for receiving Botox injections from horse breeders, and in 2021, 40 camels were allegedly subjected to illegal practices to stretch their noses.
Critics have called the use of Botox and other enhancements animal cruelty, and veterinary experts have raised concerns about the health implications of animals receiving these cosmetic procedures. Side effects can include severe pain, infections, chronic swelling, bruising, tissue damage, and the potentially life-threatening formation of abscesses.
Jason Baker, the senior vice-president of PETA Asia, told News24 that the beauty pageants were cruel and unethical.
“Subjecting any animal to a cosmetic procedure, from ear cropping to declawing, dehorning and filler injections, is hideously cruel and shows the humans who use such tactics to be extremely ugly,” he said.
Read the original article on People
