Prodigal Camels Coming Home: Saudis Rescue Australian Dromedaries……………
“Thousands of wild camels, facing a cull in Australia, have been thrown an unexpected lifeline from distant Saudi Arabia, where the animal is revered rather than viewed as a pest. Saudi camel enthusiasts have mounted a “massive” internet campaign calling on their wealthy countrymen to bring the Australian animals to the desert kingdom, according to a report yesterday. The response followed the Australian Government’s decision to kill 6,000 camels in the Northern Territory town of Dockwer River next week using marksmen firing from helicopters. The rescue plan has been greeted enthusiastically in Saudi Arabia, with camel-raisers volunteering to take in the Australian animals. “I own more than 80 camels but I am quite willing to receive as many more from Australia,” Salim al-Hajjaji said. He had grown up with camels, he told Arab News, an English-language Saudi daily. “I am now about 50 years old but I am as attached to camels as I was in my boyhood.” The camel is an integral and celebrated part of the kingdom’s heritage, an icon of its nomadic traditions. Throughout Saudi history, the camel has served as food, friend, transport and war machine. It was key to the conquests of the Middle East and North Africa nearly 1,400 years ago that brought Islam to the world……….”
See? Not all news about the Middle East are bad. This is a good story of a good deed. Needless to say, I have always had a soft spot for camels, ever since I was a child on the shores of our Gulf. The camels have the right to come home. In fact all creatures, all exiles, including humans, have the right to come home.
Even the Dingos (Canus lupus dingo), nay especially the Dingos, should have that right. In that spirit, if I had one, I’d send it packing, walkabout(ing), homeward Down Under.
Cheers
mhg
Mon Email
Comments