Grrrrrrrrrebit! This may seem a bit far fetched, but a scientific study carried out in the Journal of Zoology regarding the behavior of animals prior to the occurrence of a serious earthquake has found that some animal species, especially toads, may be able to predict the occurrence of an earthquake in enough time for people to prepare for one. For years, scientists have been studying the behavior of various animals prior to earthquake occurrences; and the fact that much of the unusual behavior seen in animals before earthquakes is also seen in other situations, and also confuses the over all picture. But if true, this news might benefit the earthquake prone Middle East. 

Most studies of animal behavior in relation to predicting seismic occurrences have been with domestic animals, such as dogs, chickens, cattle, etc. And even these studies have only found that unusual behavior exhibited in these animals occurred within 2 or 3 days of an actual earthquake.

Studying animals in the wild is another matter entirely, however. Recent studies of animals such as rodents, fish, reptiles (especially snakes) and amphibians have divulged that these animals have exhibited unusual behavior for periods of up to two months prior to an actual earthquake occurring.

The situation of common toads, both males and females, appears to be even promising as studying their behavior in their habitats prior to a major earthquake appears to have a more promising in regards to sensing the earth’s natural geological instability in periods prior to earthquakes.

Toads are usually terrestrial amphibians, which are only found in water during breeding. By observing both male and female toads during this period, it was found that in periods leading up to earthquake occurrences, less toads were observed in the breeding areas, and even disappeared altogether in the days prior to the outset of a seismic tremor.

One theory appears to be that the animals could be detecting raised radon gas levels; and there have been many reports of radon anomalies in groundwater before earthquakes, although they do not occur 100% of the time.

Earthquakes occur more frequently in those parts of the world where the outer layers or plates of the earth’s crust, known as the lithosphere, are affected by inner, hot layers, known as the asthenosphere that finds a crack in which to rise as a hotspot. This causes the cooler, upper plates to shift, causing an earthquake tremor.

Some parts of world are more suscepable to this phenomenon occurring, especially in what is known as the “ring of fire” that pertains to the edges of the continents surrounding the Pacific Ocean, where the Pacific Plates under the ocean floor “collide” with those on the continental land areas. The recent 7.1 magnitude Chilean earthquake was a result of the Pacific Plate colliding with the land based South American Plate.

Regarding how toads figure into the general scheme of things, the scientific findings, as noted in the Journal of Zoology, found that 96 percent of male toads (Bufonidae) in a population abandoned their breeding site five days before an earthquake struck L’Aquila Italy, in April, 2009. The breeding site was located 65 kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter.

The scientists said the number of paired toads at the site also dropped to zero three days before the earthquake.

Being Italian toads, and due to some natural occurrence interfering with the animal’s most favorite pastime (as noted in the photo), it must have taken a real outstanding event, like the earthquake, to interfere with la dolce vita. After all, some activities are better than eating flies – or whatever it is that toads eat. [Karin, Green Prophet's editor, who studied amphibians and insects in university says that toads love ants.]

All that said, we have our own earthquake problems here in the Middle East, especially along the Syria-African Rift or Great Rift Valley which borders Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, as well as in the eastern Mediterranean.

So taking this into mind, maybe we should pay better attention to those ugly, warty looking things we occasionally find in our gardens.

::IRIN news

More articles dealing with earthquakes and volcanos:

Middle East Aid Springs into Action Following Haitian Earthquake

San Francisco’s Sherith Israel Synagoge to Become Earthquake Proof

Middle East Airlines Wait for Volcanic Ash to Settle

Ormat Taps into Geo-Thermo  Volcano Activity in Indonesia

What does whale excrement, or poop, have to do with enriching the world’s marine environment? Plenty,  according to a recent  article on Greenbang. The “poop” the article is referring to is that contributed by whales whose diet is largely consisting of ingesting thousands of pounds of a small marine crustacean known as krill. Krill are small, shrimp-like creatures whose average size is that of a paper clip, and are full of iron that they obtains from the sea; especially from feeding on algae in many of the world’s oceans. Their poop, also, helps our oceans absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Now’s a better time than ever to Save the Whales!Whales that feed on krill include the world’s largest living mammals: the majestic blue whale; which are not only found in the northern and southern oceans, but in locations such as the Gulf of Eden in Yemen, and in parts of the Persian Gulf.

Since algae is one of the world’s best sources of carbon, the whales ingest a certain amount of carbon and iron from the large amounts of krill they eat. The amounts of krill ingested amount to thousands of tons a year by producing a large amount of excrement, containing as much as 12 per cent iron.

Collecting whale poop for study

Of course, whales are not the only large marine mammals found in sea, including bodies of water like the Gulf. At least 4,000 dugongs (large gentle marine herbivores, related to the manatee of sea cow) also live in the Gulf, as well as 40 different species of dolphins.

In a recent Green Prophet article , I expressed environmental concerns for the well being of the Gulf’s dugong population that in some parts of world is threatened with extinction.

The fact that whales, a very much endangered species, make so much of a contribution to fertilizing the sea, it would seem that more of an effort should be made to save them from the harpoons of whalers, as well as from environmental dangers like oil and chemical spills, ingestion of plastics and other waste materials, mercury and other metals poisoning; and global warming, which has an effect on the very food the whales like to eat.

Steve Nicol, a scientist for Australia’s Antarctic Division, estimates that whales are responsible for “recycling” more than 12% of the iron found in the Southern Ocean alone. And this iron comes largely from krill which hold large quantities of iron in their bodies.

As noted by Nicol: “Approximately 24 per cent of the total iron in the Southern Ocean surface water is currently stored within krill body tissue.”

This works out to an estimated 379 million tons of krill in the Southern Ocean alone that includes an iron supply of about 15,000 tons.

Since blue whales are frequently sighted in both the Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf, it means that the poop they generate is helping to fertilize and increase the iron content of these bodies or water. Other marine mammals, fish and birds also feed on krill, including albatross, pelicans, cormorants, and species of seals and sea lions.

Naturally, the future of large sea mammals like whales depends heavily on ample supplies of krill. These magnificent animals have few natural enemies, outside of predators such as killer whales (Orcinus Orca) which are actually members of the dolphin family This only leaves one earth mammal that is now the greatest threat to the future of the whale population – and the quantities of iron-rich excrement they produce. And that mammal is non-other than Man.

Image via www.divematfrix.com
::Greenbang

Read more on benefits of poop and algae:
Qteros Makes Bio Fuel from Animal and Human Excrement.

Expanding the Role of Algae for Food and Other Products

Algae Into Bio Fuel in Joint Israel-Chinese Project

Shaul the fisherman hoses down a load of imported sea bream flown in from Greece, speaking nostalgically of the good old days when the catches were plenty: “When I was a kid, fishermen would toss out 150 hooks and haul in 100 kilos of fish,” says Shaul Rokach, a 57-year-old fishmonger from Jaffa.

“Today the fishermen toss out 3,000 hooks. He starts letting them out and doesn’t know when it will finish and in the end he hauls in 15 kilos, maybe. They can’t even cover the cost of the bait let alone the fuel. “Once my smile spread from ear to ear,” he adds. “My pockets were full of money. We’d strut down the piers. Now, they’re just trying to kill off the profession.”

Rokach is not the first fisherman to complain there are no longer any fish to catch in the holy land. Tradition holds that Jesus and his disciples fished the Sea of Galilee. According to the New Testament, Apostle Simon Peter ran a fishing business on the shores of the lake and complained that his net kept coming up empty. Jesus told him to cast his net again and it came up bursting with fish (Luke 5:4).

Generations have carried on this tradition, and today the most popular fish in the lake is dubbed St. Peter’s Fish, or Tilapia. But after being almost overfished to death, in the coming six weeks the Israeli government will gradually enforce a total ban on fishing in the biblical lake an effort to bring it back to life.

The new, two-year ban will force some 200 licensed fishermen out of the Sea of Galilee in search of a new trade.

“We will support the fishermen and make sure the lake is restocked with fish,” Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said when announcing the ban after his weekly cabinet meeting.

The Sea of Galilee has witnessed a dramatic decline in fish, largely due to illegal practices such as catching breeding fish and preventing fish populations from growing. Millions of hungry migratory birds also feed heavily on the fish.

The ban on fishing in the fresh water Sea of Galilee in northern Israel has been discussed for some time. A joint, formal plan was recently formulated by Israel’s Agriculture Ministry, Environment Ministry and Treasury.

“There is a world wide trend in the decline of fish,” Hagay Noyberger, chief fishing ranger from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture tells The Media Line. “In Israel it’s the same. It’s caused by pollution, overfishing, global warming and other phenomena.”

Prof. Menachem Goren, an aquatic biologist from Tel Aviv University, says overfishing was the principal problem in the declining fish stocks.

“There are too many fishermen, too many boats, over fishing and no management,” he says, speaking in his laboratory with shelves full of bizarre sea creatures preserved in jars. “The situation has become very bad not just in the reduction in the numbers of fish, but also in the size of those which remain.”

The Ministry of Agriculture reports that there has been a steady 20 percent decline each year in Israeli fish catches. In 2000, for example, there was almost 4,000 tons of fresh catch recorded. By 2006, just over 2,000 tons of fresh fish were caught.

Unlike neighboring countries, Israel does not ban fishing during the three to four month fish reproduction season, thus denying the fish population a chance to recover.

“In most Mediterranean countries, fishing is banned during the summer time and this allows the fish to breed and to grow,” says Prof. Goren. “Here in Israel we don’t have any regulation of this kind right now. So the fishermen fish all year round and they don’t give the fish any chance. They remove the mothers while they are small before they get to maturity and that is it.”

Noyberger says this too was about to change.

“We want to close areas to fishing in order to replenish the stock. It is a long process and not something that takes a day or two,” the fish ranger reveals.

Noyberger refuses to elaborate, but reports say these no-fishing zones will be off the coast of Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and the rich breeding grounds of Achziv just south of the Lebanon border.

The result of these changes is that Israeli fishermen are a dying breed, and the few who do remain say many have quit the trade out of frustration.

Rokach, known as “Shaul the fishmonger” from Jaffa, abandoned his boat to make a living importing fish.

“I’ve got salmon from Norway, grouper from Egypt, and cod and mackerel and sea bass,” he says, rattling off his imported stock. “People love fish a lot. All the fishermen I know are retiring and there are no new fishermen. I miss it, but let me remain with my good memories.”

The Ministry of Agriculture admits it has a plan to encourage the retirement of at least a third of the country’s legal fishing fleet. There are about 400 licensed boats in the Mediterranean, Sea of Galilee and Red Sea and about 3,000 registered fishermen.

“In order to improve fishing for the coming generations there is a trend to try and reduce the fishing fleet,” says Noyberger. “It is not something that will happen tomorrow, but if possible we will in the coming years reduce it by a third so that those who do remain will be able to make a living… The fishermen who are less active might find it worth their while to leave the profession.”

More green news from the Sea of Galilee:
Hope Bottle Tree to Educate Importance of Recycling
Israel to Compensate Jordan for Polluted Water
A Luxurious Vacation Near the Galilee Sea

(This story was first published by The Media Line) Image via the lees

We green types are sensitive to animal suffering. We can’t stand it when we read that animals are going extinct (like tuna). We get excited to see videos about animal behavior (read about Isabella Rossellini’s new Green Porn series), and we certainly cringe over the fact of life that animals have to die in medical research. But there is another way, finds a Tel Aviv University researcher who has developed a novel way to genetically engineer tissue from animals. The effect is that up to 95% of the animals used in research may be spared, or never bred in the first place. Huge amounts of resources could be spared as well.

While it’s illegal for health products with medical formulations to be accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration without tests on animals — a situation that has serious ethical and moral implications. Prof. Amit Gefen of Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Engineering holds a promise that far fewer lab animals will be needed for the necessary experimental trials.

Dr. Gefen’s research into fat cells, published in a recent issue of Tissue Engineering, has led him to conclude that the necessary tissue can be produced from fat, skin, bone and muscle cells. His breakthrough study could have hundreds of applications in the pharmaceutical and medical world.

“Drugs make our lives better, and basic science is needed to push new drugs through clinical trials. But there is no doubt that an untold number of animals are sacrificed in the laboratory setting — both in basic research and in applied conditions when testing particular molecules,” says Prof. Gefen.

Bridging the worlds of biology and engineering, Prof. Gefen is now using adult rat stem cells — cells that can be stimulated to create skin, bone, fat and muscle tissue from an animal in a laboratory setting. In his own work on studying the mechanical properties of pressure ulcers, many tissue replications were needed. His new approach no longer requires the sacrifice of large numbers of animals. When an experiment is over, not one animal life has been lost.

The use of engineered tissues, says Prof. Gefen, may also be more scientifically efficient than using those from a living source. “The model we’ve created offers a very reliable method for researchers asking questions about basic science, and those investigating new drugs. We can injure tissue in a very controlled environment and grow muscle tissue without blood vessels, thereby neutralizing certain variables that often cloud what’s happening in an experiment.”

::AFTAU

More on animals:
Global Warming Affects Animals at the Dinner Table
Green Porn Explores the Sex Lives of Animals
Lebanon’s Lions and Tigers and Bears Take the Heat

Nature can point us in the right green direction. Maurice learns about human nature from his cat.

I’m sure many Green Prophet readers enjoyed Jack Reichert’s recent picture story: 11Things I Learned From My Dog. He showed us how we can learn a lot about life by observing how man’s best friend relates to us as human. I decided to write a follow-up piece on how people relate to another very popular, yet often misunderstood human companion, Felis Catus or the common domestic house cat.

Many people consider cats to be the opposite of dogs, especially in their relationship (or even non-relationship) to humans. I’ve lived with several cats during my life, and have had relationships with numerous others, including what many people refer to as street or alley cats, which are quite numerous where I live in Israel. Cats also have had a bad break historically, and have been considered as symbols of bad luck and harbingers of evil – even being associated with the devil and witches (especially in the case of black cats).

So in order to present a counterpoint to dog fanciers, I’ve decided to write this article so that cats can also have their place in the sun in-so-far as their relationship to people.

Image Credit: photoslevi

A new super-sex protein jock shake “A Breakfast of Champions” for fruit flies and mosquitoes to make them better lovers, and mercenaries of their own race?

Writing from the beach in Panama City, Florida during Spring Break this new research from Hebrew U seems to ring true: that “males with the muscle,” get the chicks – in both the human and insect worlds. According to a new study at an Israeli university, researchers have uncovered a new sustainable pest control technique using “super-sexed” (but sterile- sorry guys) male insects to copulate with female ones. The approach, the researchers hope, will help the agri business use less chemicals, such as DDT, used since early in the last century to control crop pests or carriers of diseases.

Their trick? A Breakfast of Champions jock drink.

Pest resistance is up, even with the use of nasty chemicals, and they have a serious effect on human health. That’s why we eat organic. However, this approach has led to the evolution of resistance to pesticides and has severely negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Prof. Boaz Yuval at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is now working on upgrading an old approach, known as the sterile insect technique. Useful against several dozen insect species, he is rearing million of insects that compete with or who eat the problematic and usually invasive pest.  

The males will have sex with the female insects, but being sterile means that no baby insects will result. The sterile insects, are weaker than their “sexed” counterparts making this method not so effective in the long-run. Nature isn’t that stupid! To counteract, Prof. Yuval has developed a super shake just like the ones jocks drink when pumping iron.

A high energy protein drink

Prof. Yuval has found that feeding males on high protein diets significantly improves their sexual performance and that bacteria residing in fruit flies are important, and that the factory reared flies lacked the bacteria found in wild insects.

A super-sexed fruit fly. Credit: Roi Caspi for Hebrew University.

With this information in hand, Yuval and his colleagues are formulating a high-protein, bacteria enhanced “breakfast of champions” which will be provided to males before their release, and significantly improve their sexual performance when released in the field. He thinks that this approach can be applied to a variety of plant and animal pests, as well as to organisms that transmit human disease, thus making an important, organic and environmentally friendly approach to pest control.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they are giving out free samples of this stuff to the beach party-ers in Florida next year.

Image via Kaganof

Can you believe that between six and seven thousand “mermaids” still live in the shallow, saline waters of the Persian Gulf? Better known as dugongs or sea cows, these slow moving, gentle herbivores inhabit sea grass filled estuaries and mangrove swampy areas off Saudi Arabia, the UAE states, Bahrain, and Qatar. They also live in the Red Sea. But they are under danger of extinction. 

These aquatic mammals were once the subject of maritime tales dealing with mermaids, or half fish, half human creatures that lived in the sea and often called sailors to their death by encouraging them to jump overboard from their ships.

The dugong population in the Red Sea and in the Persian Gulf are estimated to be the second largest in the world, according to an article published a few years back by UN Environment Protection Agency’s Grida newsletter

We need to protect these strange and beautiful mammals not at risk in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Image via ThePatrick.

Recent construction projects in the Gulf’s coastal areas may have affected the relative safety that these creatures have been there for hundreds of years.

Man made damage harms dugongs and other Gulf Wildlife

The impact of oil production, war, and all the construction projects in and around the Persian Gulf has naturally had an adverse effect on marine and other wildlife in this region.

Previous Green Prophet articles have mentioned Dubai and Abu Dhabi real estate projects such as Dubai’s Palm Island and The World artificial islands, which have caused considerable damage to marine life in the areas where these projects have been constructed, and are presently being constructed.

The best example is the largest of these projects, The World, which is now causing serious damage to coral reefs, kelp, and the very sea grass  that the dugong feed upon. As was noted in this article, the delicate eco-system of coral reefs, mangrove coastal areas and sea grass habitats, have been depleted by more than 35%.

The sea water salinity in the Gulf has also increased, affecting sea life.  It was also noted that Island project promoters plan to import a number of dolphins from the Solomon Islands to add an extra attraction to the area, as well as creating a special “diver’s cave” where amateur scuba divers can hunt for “treasure” that the project promoters will put there for them.

In another article, a case study published in an American University educational website, one of the most constant threats posed to the dugongs of the Persian Gulf is that of water pollution; most especially water pollution as a result of oil spills.

With an enormous amount of the world’s oil supplies located in the Persian Gulf region, the transport of oil through the Persian Gulf is a fact of life. So too are oil spills. Oil in the water of the Persian Gulf destroys dugong habitats and is likely to have significant direct negative health effects on the dugong.

Efforts have been made to protect the dugong from being hunted or killed by fishermen when the mammals are trapped in fishing nets. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are signers to the CITES Agreement which is a world-wide resolution, adopted originally in 1963, to protect endangered animal species, of which the dudong and other similar species (manatee, etc) are now considered to be.

A video about saving the dugongs in Japan:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bahrain and Qatar are not signers to this agreement; but they have their own laws designed to protect the dugong. In 2006, a joint symposium was made by ten countries, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia to find ways to protect these animals in which one of the speaker, Catherine Muir of the Sea Sense organization in Tanzania, noted that:

“The main danger — in the whole region — is the net capture, because it is the reason for many accidents, and the cause of destruction of habitat sea-grass.”

These creatures, which grow up to 3 meters in length, are related to the elephant, and can live as long as 70 years, are a classic example of how humans are damaging and even destroying the wildlife of the Persian Gulf.

Want to help save the gugong, here are a couple of resources:

Preserve the Dugong blog

Save the Dugong from US Air Base in Japan

The Guide to Dugong Saving

:: American University

More environmental news from the Persian Gulf and Middle East:

Dubai’s The World Island Project Threatens Corals and Other Wildlife

Saudi Oil Co. Relocates Corals From Path of Pipeline

The Middle East is Drowning in Waste

An act of redemption for family sins: Etti Altman co-founder and spokesperson of Let the Animals Live is pushing for anti-fur law she hopes will be passed this February 24. Israel would be the first in the world to ban fur.

While fur was in vogue in the 1950s and ’60s and some people still cling to the desire to drape a fur stole or coat across their body, today many people around the world have rejected the cruelty of the industry and opt not to buy fur. In Israel, a full 86 percent of the population believes that killing animals for their fur is immoral.

In what she calls “an act of redemption for her family’s sins,” Etti Altman, daughter of a furrier based in New York City and co-founder and spokesperson of the Israel branch of the animal rights’ group Let the Animals Live, is spearheading efforts to pass into law in Israel a bill that would ban the sale and import of most fur and fur items.

Animals such as mink, sable, and fox, bred solely for their fur, often endure a life of such cruelty that animal activists feel compelled to act. The small mammals are kept in cramped conditions and are often skinned alive to preserve the quality of their pelts.

Thanks to the lobbying, legal assistance and awareness raising of Let the Animals Live, Israel has adopted a bill that brings it close to being the world’s first fur-free country.

“A global and historic precedent”

Israel’s Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon and Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Arden agreed to introduce the bill. Both addressed the Ministerial Committee with the assistance of Minister of Education Gideon Saar.

While the first draft of the bill referred to a ban on cat and dog fur, in its most recent version, introduced by Knesset Members Ronit Tirosh and Nitzan Horowitz, it bans the sale and import of fur and fur items from all mammals, except for the fur on shtreimels (the fur-trimmed hats usually worn on festive occasions by married ultra-orthodox Jewish men from hassidic sects) and the hides of cows and sheep and goats, since cruelty is not involved in culling these animals.

According to Let the Animals Live, “This bill is a global and historic precedent.” It is expected to become law after February 24, when the Education, Culture and Sports Ministry committees will hold a vote on the bill’s amendment. Following their expected approval the bill will go to a second and third reading before it can be passed into law.

If and when it comes to pass, the historic law will include a ban on the fur of exotic mammals and that of dogs, cats and most rabbits. Due to the religious significance of wearing a fur shtreimel, some rabbit, sable and American grey fox fur may still be used in Israel. The animal rights’ groups knew they had to make this exception given the traditional importance of the hat, worn by a minority of the Jewish ultra-orthodox population.

Repairing the world through kindness to animals

While few people’s wardrobes in Israel include fur items, as the climate is far from cold – there were times during the current Israeli winter when temperatures reached the 80s – Altman sees the hoped-for countrywide ban on fur as something of a symbolic gesture that she expects other countries will copy.

“I know I am a bit of a paradox, because I am the daughter of a furrier,” she tells ISRAEL21c. “But in my own way I am ‘repairing’ the world. Our organization decided that if we want to influence the animal rights movement we would need to work with the Israeli Knesset [parliament]. And we are doing a lot more than introducing a bill against fur. We are also lobbying a ‘Cat Bill’ so that the government of Israel will give our organization funds to continue our work of helping street cats. The situation in Israel is desperate.”

Surviving on donations alone, the 25-year-old organization sees to the welfare of feral city cats and finds homes for abused and stray animals. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, it runs an animal shelter in Ramla near Ben Gurion international airport and has only recently added lobbying to its roster. The skeleton staff of 20 works nationwide with hundreds of volunteers.

Israel to lead the way with the new law

Surveys conducted in Israel show that a large majority of Israelis support the fur-free bill. A poll commissioned by Let the Animals Live and the International Anti-Fur Coalition found that 86% of Israelis believe that killing animals for their fur is immoral and 80% back a ban of the fur trade in Israel.

It was only six months ago that Altman began working with the International Anti-Fur Coalition, which has an international coordinator living in Israel. According to the coalition, each year 65 million animals are raised solely for the fur industry.

Later this month the Israeli organization will welcome Rebecca Aldworth, director of Canada’s Humane Society. For the past decade Aldworth has been a firsthand observer of Canada’s commercial seal hunt, as she has escorted more than 100 scientists, parliamentarians and journalists to the ice floes to observe the slaughter firsthand. She has convinced more than 300 retailers in Canada to remove fur from their stores. This year, on February 24 she could be the first to witness a historic moment for animal rights in Israel, if the anti-fur bill is passed into law.

(This article was first published on ISRAEL21c – www.israel21c.org)

Walk a mile for a camel? It certainly seems like rich people living in Abu Dhabi and other UAE states are more than willing to do this – especially when the camels in question are pedigree racing dromedaries used for sport in the Sheikdom and other locations in the Middle East.

While possessing and racing these “splendid beasts,” as Lawrence of Arabia once referred them to be, is not really in itself environmentally damaging, spending so much money on them is an issue; especially if this kind of eccentric hobby is at the expense of abuse to the animals themselves and to children who care for and even race these ships of the desert.

The situation regarding children being forced to become “camel jockeys” became so serious that under pressure of international organizations such as the UN ’s UNICEF children’s relief organization, camel racing by underage riders became illegal in 2005. And less than a year later, a conference was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to make camel racing using children a criminal act.

So taking all of this into account, you might wonder why camel breeding festivals are still held in Emirate states like Abu Dhabi, where recently a prized breeding camel fetched a hefty price of 10 million dirham ($2.7 million); and the wealthy purchaser of this expensive dromedary bought two more as well, for a combined price of more than $6.5 million?

One might expect this kind of camel trading to take place in Saudi Arabia, where camels are still considered as a symbol of wealth. But this is Abu Dhabi, which like Dubai is now supposed to be more enlightened and thus interested in environmental and clean technology projects such as its well-publicized Masdar City,  whose ecological virtues we have featured in Green Prophet on numerous occasions.

I might add that Abu Dhabi also engineered the Masdar Clean Tech Fund which recently completed it’s first successful investment offering of more than $265 million.

Still, this is the Middle East, where camels are still very much a part of the local scene. And after all, prized race horses, including breeding mares, are sold for similar prices in many parts of the world, and purchased by the wealthy, including Arabs. But even though camel racing with child jockeys is supposedly illegal in places like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, it undoubtedly continues, as does human trafficking of women and children, now considered to be one of the most lucrative financial operations in the world today.

Getting back to the subject of camel trading in Abu Dhabi, this year’s festival even included contests like the most attractive “camel beauty queen,” the winner of which won a prize of $10 million. The camel trading market has even remained stable, despite the disastrous effects of the worldwide recession on the local real estate markets, especially in Dubai.

And what is known as the Al Ain Camel Market, near Dubai is considered to be a national heritage.

There are a lot of good qualities to this animal, besides being used for sport. Camels have been used to both carry loads and for transportation for more than 4,000 years. Their meat and milk are consumed with relish; and their hair and hides used to make clothing and for the walls of Bedouin tents. And last of all, their dung is used to make campfires to keep people warm on cold desert nights, as well as for cooking. But to pay so much money to own them, while many people are going hungry?

It might well be prudent for some of this camel wealth to be spread around to help improve the welfare of the children and their families who were (and maybe still are) involved in being camel jockeys, for the pleasure and enjoyment of the rich.

Images via Fohn; Dreamsofdubai.

More Mid East animal articles worth reading:
Circus Animals Brought to Lebanon Found Abused
Kosher Turkeys “Going to the Wolves” in Tel Aviv
Egypt Culls 300,000 Pigs in Response to Swine Flu Scare