RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia has announced plans to issue passports to the kingdom´s millions of camels, to help better manage the country´s prized herds.
The ministry of the environment, water and agriculture promised the initiative would enhance the “productivity and efficiency in the sector and build a reliable reference database for camels”.
A social media post from the ministry on Tuesday included a picture of the document: a green passport stamped with the country´s coat of arms and a golden image of a camel. The passport will “contribute to organising sales and trading operations by regulating commerce and transport, ensuring official documentation, protecting owners´ rights, and facilitating proof of ownership,” according state-backed broadcaster Al Ekhbariya.
In 2024, the government estimated there were around 2.2 million camels in the kingdom. Camels have long been a vital mode of transportation in Arabia, conferring status on their owners and fuelling the rise of a lucrative breeding industry. The kingdom also hosts beauty contests for camels at annual festivals, where Saudi enthusiasts spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on animal contestants -- and the unscrupulous sometimes seek an illegal advantage.
