Let the camels fly…

Let the camels fly…

Or sail. People in Saudi are reportedly asking Australian authorities to send their camels to the Kingdom rather than kill them. Sounds like a good deal.

January 20, 2010 4:43 by kippreport

The Australian government has announced plans to kill 6,000 feral camels in a small town next week. And obviously, people in Saudi Arabia saw an opportunity. Many people in the Kingdom are now campaigning through the internet, urging Australians to send their camels to Saudi Arabia rather than kill them, reports Arab News. They have asked “wealthy camel-loving citizens” in Saudi to find a way to bring the beasts to the Kingdom, says the report.

“I own more than 80 camels but I am quite willing to receive as many more from Australia,” Salim al-Hajjaji, who has grown up with camels, told the paper. “I am now about 50 years old but I am as attached to camels as I was in my boyhood,” he said.

Another camel owner, Khalifa al-Bigaili, asked businessmen to bring the animals from Australia. “We can buy them cheap or get them for free since the Australians do not want them,” he said.

Which seems like a logical point. According to the report, Australians are not cozying up too much to camels since the animals compete with sheep and cattle for food.

The idea is not new; a report by ABC News way back in 2002 claimed that Australia shipped 120 camels from Darwin to Saudi Arabia. While it was more of a commercial operation, at least the process has been experimented with in the past.

Australia could probably make some money out of it; Saudi could get more of its favorite animal, and the camels could probably get a free plane/sea journey. That sounds like a fair deal now, doesn’t it?