Dozens Of Camels Disqualified From BeautyPageant Over Alleged Botox Injections

陈涛

沙特阿拉伯一年一度的阿卜杜勒-阿齐兹国王骆驼节又开始了。评委们将根据骆驼的头、脖子、驼峰等进行全方位评分，选出“最美骆驼”，颁发大奖。据外媒报道，这次比赛中超过40头骆驼因使用医美手段“提升”容貌而被取消参赛资格。这也是沙特史上最大的一次骆驼选美作假案。

In an attempt to keep artificially-enhanced camels out of official  beauty  pageants ，Saudi  authorities  disqualified 43 camels over the use of Botox and other cosmetic procedures.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is one of the  several  annual  events  that  features  a  camel  beauty pageant. These  sort of competitions is  such a big deal that some breeders reportedly resort to Botox injections and other cosmetic touchups to make their animals prettier. The Saudi Press Agency reported that over 40 camels were disqualified from  this  year’s  King  Abdulaziz  Camel  Festival  pageant because of Botox injections and other cosmetic procedures.

Apparently，Botox is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes  to  the  illegal  use  of cosmetic  intervention  for  camel beauty pageants. Using collagen lip fillers，artificially increasing the animals’muscles with hormones，and inflating body parts with rubber bands have all been documented in the past.

The  use  of cosmetics  by  camel  breeders  has  become such a big problem in recent years that competition organizers have had to adopt“specialized and advanced”technology to detect any unauthorized tampering with the animals.

To  ensure  that  the  natural  beauty  of  the  camel  is preserved ，the  animals  are  checked  both  physically  and clinically  before  the  pageant ，using  X- ray  machines  and sonar devices. Offenders risk fines as high as 100，000 riyals per camel for procedures like Botox or hormone injections.

Camel breeding is big business in the Middle East，and good placing at beauty pageants can have seriously beneficial implications  for  the  owners. And  then  there  is  the  prize money. This  year  breeders  at  the  King  Abdulaziz  Camel Festival are competing for about $66 million.

選美比赛将整容骆驼拒之门外。因注射肉毒杆菌和使用其他医美手段，43头骆驼被沙特官方取消参加选美比赛的资格。

阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹国王骆驼节是沙特阿拉伯几个一年一度的骆驼选美活动之一。这类比赛在沙特阿拉伯是大事，据报道，一些饲养者为了让骆驼更漂亮，会给它们注射肉毒杆菌和使用其他医美手段。沙特新闻社报道称，超过40头骆驼因注射肉毒杆菌和其他医美手段而被取消今年阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹国王骆驼节的参赛资格。

显然，注射肉毒杆菌只是骆驼选美比赛中的众多非法医美手段之一。过去还出现过给骆驼使用胶原蛋白丰唇，用激素让骆驼肌肉更发达，用塑料圈来塑造身体部位。

近年来，饲养者给骆驼整容已成为令人头疼的问题，比赛组织者不得不采用“专业和先进”的技术来检测未经许可美化骆驼容貌的行为。

为了确保骆驼的自然美得以保存，在比赛前，组织者会用X光机和声纳设备对骆驼进行身体检查和临床检查。给骆驼注射肉毒杆菌素或激素的违法者可能被处以每头骆驼高达10万沙特里亚尔（约合人民币17万元）的罚款。

骆驼养殖在中东是一项大生意，在骆驼选美比赛中取得好成绩对饲养者是非常有利的。而且比赛还设有奖金。今年，阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹国王骆驼节的饲养员们将共同竞争约6600万美元（约合人民币4.2亿元）的奖金。