HAIL — Camel owners continue to refuse to acknowledge that their camels are carriers of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) despite scientific research and evidence. A source from the Ministry of Agriculture said research shows that 3 percent of camels are carriers of the disease. "Camel owners think that the ministry is making an unfair generalization about camels. Camel owners presume the ministry is only basing its assumptions on Al-Khumra Fever which happened in 1994 in Al-Khumra Governorate. In that case, a fever broke out in a herd of camels and the ministry was unable to contain or explain it," said the source. Nearly 22 years later, the Coronavirus hit the same governorate and although the ministry had an explanation this time around, camel owners are reluctant to trust the ministry. "Camel owners do not trust the ministry in its analysis of camel health. It views the coronavirus outbreak as another miscalculation by the ministry. The ministry has banned the transportation of camels from farms and into the markets as a precautionary measure to contain the virus. A butcher in Jeddah contracted the disease because he was in direct contact with camels," said the source. The source also said the Ministry of Agriculture takes all necessary precautions and recommendations made by the Ministry of Health. "The Ministry of Agriculture reported in 2004 that there are around 237,000 camels in the Kingdom. The number of camels in 2011 was 831,000. Camel owners estimate that the number of camels in the Kingdom has crossed a million," said the source. The source also said Saudi Arabia is the fourth Arab country with the most number of camels after Somalia, Sudan and Mauritania. "The Ministry of Agriculture also reported that number of camels in the Arab world exceeds 14 million. FAO reported camels in the Arab world constitute more than 60 percent of camels in the world as the total number of camels in the world reached 25 million. FAO also reported that the population of camels is unevenly distributed in the Arab world as 53 percent of the camels in the Arab world are in Somalia, Sudan and Mauritania," said the source. Fahd Al-Shammary, a cattle trader, said sales of camels had dropped by 60 percent since the Coronavirus outbreak. "The market is stagnant at the moment. We are not receiving any camels from the farms after the Ministry of Agriculture banned the transportation of camels and we are not getting any customers such as butchers buying camels because consumers are afraid to be near camels even if all the health and safety procedures have been followed. What happened to the minority of camels does not reflect on the majority of the healthy and perfectly consumable camels," said Al-Shammary. He added the market must follow the decisions of the ministry. "The market will start to mobilize again by the end of this month. We will compensate for the 2 months of monetary losses. The same happened 22 years ago. It is just a matter of time before consumers will realize that it is safe to consume meat again," said Al-Shammary. Abu Khalid lives in Hijarat Al-Dalm Village which is 20 kms away from Al-Kharj city. He regularly drinks camel milk and said he isn't afraid of catching Coronavirus. "I drink camel milk fresh right after the camel is milked. I am not afraid of being infected with Coronavirus as I can tell which camel is ill and which is perfectly healthy with no trace of any harmful effect to me," said Abu Khalid.
