20 camels disqualified for Botox and lip fillers at beauty contest

ZA, March 5 — Camel breeders are resorting to cosmetic enhancements to win camel beauty pageants. The 2026 Camel Beauty Show Festival in Al Musannah, Oman, has been rocked by scandal after 20 camels were disqualified from the competition for receiving illegal cosmetic enhancements, including lip fillers and Botox injections. Veterinary inspections revealed the animals had undergone extensive procedures including hyaluronic acid lip fillers and silicone reshaping – all of which are strictly banned under competition rules.

The modifications weren’t limited to facial work. Silicone injections had been used to make humps bigger and better shaped, while hormone treatments made the camels more muscular, giving them the winning look that judges prefer over ordinary camels.

The annual festival is a massive celebration where camels compete for prestigious titles based on strict beauty standards. Judges evaluate contestants on specific criteria including lip shape, head size, neck length, eyelash quality and overall “desert elegance”. With prize money at major events reaching tens of millions of dollars, the stakes are enormous – and when camels don’t naturally possess these coveted features, some owners create them artificially.

This isn’t the first time the camel beauty world has faced such controversy. Saudi Arabia’s prestigious King Abdulaziz Camel Festival – known as Miss Camel – has repeatedly dealt with similar scandals in recent years. In 2018, 12 contestants were disqualified for Botox use. The problem escalated dramatically in 2021 when 40 camels were sent home after officials discovered various modifications including nose-stretching procedures and dangerous hormone abuse.

The Camel Club and Oman Camel Racing Federation have promised stricter penalties for owners who enhance their animals. “We are keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels,” they said in a statement.

Veterinary experts have raised serious concerns about the health implications of these procedures. Side effects can include severe pain, dangerous infections, chronic swelling, bruising, tissue damage and potentially life-threatening abscess formation. The risks increase significantly because the procedures are often performed by unqualified individuals in unsterile environments.

Animal rights organisations have condemned the practice entirely. Jason Baker, senior vice-president of PETA Asia, described the beauty pageants as a cruel farce. “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.