Camels banned from Saudi Arabia beauty contest 'after they were given botox to make them more handsome'

A dozen camels were banned from entering a beauty contest after judges found out they had been given botox "to make them more handsome."

The camels had been entered into the prestigious King Abdulaziz Camel Festival in Saudi Arabia – a strict competition held each year in Riyadh.

Contestants have cheated in the past, desperate to get their hands on the $57million (£40million) prize up for grabs.

The rules state that: “Camels that are found with drugs in lips, shaved, dyed in any parts of the body, or with changes from natural form are not allowed.”

In the festival, the animals are paraded down a dusty racetrack as judges rate the size of their lips, cheeks, heads and knees. Crowds of men watched from the bleachers, hooting when the beasts representing their own tribe loped down the track.

"The camel," explained the chief judge of the show, Fawzan al-Madi, "is a symbol of Saudi Arabia. We used to preserve it out of necessity, now we preserve it as a pastime."

The authorities ramped up month-long festival this year – relocating it from the remote desert to the outskirts of the capital.

There are food stalls and souvenir shops, a petting zoo featuring the world's tallest and shortest camels, a museum with life-size sand sculptures of camels, tents for tasting camel's milk and viewing camel-hair textiles, and a planetarium showing how Arabs rode camels through the desert guided by the stars.

Organisers say this "heritage village" will expand in coming years as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - who is heir to the throne - takes the reins through a newly-created official Camel Club established by royal decree last year.

Halfway through this year's festival, attendance is up about a third from last year, with about 300,000 people making the 1-1/2 hour trip from Riyadh so far, said Fahd al-Semmari, a Camel Club board member.

"The vision is for the (festival) to become a global, pioneering forum for all classes of people to come for entertainment, knowledge and competition."