(Australia) Camels a beautiful money spinner

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Camels a beautiful money spinner

 

AAP

13feb02

 

THEY may be ungainly and have bad breath, but Australian camels could soon

be parading their charms in beauty pageants.

 

The camel industry in central Australia believes camel beauty parades could

be a big money-spinner for outback charities.

 

The idea comes from the United Arab Emirates, where alluring camels recently

competed for $50,000 in prize money.

 

The camels could be judged on the size of their humps and the length of

their eyelashes, suggested Central Australian Camel Industry Association

executive officer Peter Seidel.

 

He said such a contest would fit in well with the annual Alice Springs Camel

Cup.

 

" I could envisage something like this beauty contest being held there by

someone like Rotary or Lions, " Mr Seidel said.

 

" The annual Alice Springs Camel Cup draws some pretty big crowds and if they

decided to hold a beauty contest with camels, that would attract press from

around the world.

 

" It would be a good thing as a fundraiser event for a good laugh and to

raise some money. "

 

Mr Seidel's association, which represents farmers who raise camels for

tourist as well as meat markets, has been exporting live camels to the

Middle East and South-East Asia for the past nine months.

 

While the Australian variety might compete with their Middle-Eastern cousins

in the beauty stakes, the Australians had no chance of winning on the

lucrative Arab camel racing tracks, Mr Seidel said.

 

" The Australian camel was imported here as a draught animal and, as such,

they're much too heavy for racing, " he said.

 

Inland Australia has the only wild herds of camels in the world.

 

An estimated 600,000 wild camels are wandering the outback, with about

one-third in central Australia.