DHAKA: Most Bangladeshis will slaughter cows during Eid Al-Adha this week, but some will go the extra mile and celebrate the annual holiday with a bigger sacrifice: camels.
The animals are a rare sight in Bangladesh as they are not a species native to the region. If they sometimes show up at local cattle markets, most of those have been imported from India, unless they come from the solitary animal farm that raises them in the capital, Dhaka.
The Babe Madina Camel Farm was established in 2004 and, with 11 animals, is the only place in the country that breeds and rears camels.
“We started this camel farm with 10 camels purchased from a cattle market in Dhaka. These were all brought from Rajasthan, India,” said the farm’s manager, Shahar Ali, who has been working there for the past 18 years.
“Initially, people were skeptical whether we would be able to rear the desert animals here in our climate. But we became successful.”
As well as the 11 adults the farm has one five-month-old calf. It gives away its animals only on special occasions and to very wealthy customers, who can afford them for celebrations of the holiday known as the Feast of Sacrifice, which commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim’s test of faith when he was commanded by God to sacrifice his son.
“People usually visit our farm during Eid Al-Adha,” Ali said. “On Sunday, we sold one camel to a buyer from Dhaka. It was sold at $18,000.”
On a regular basis, the farm also sells camel milk — and at a high a price, coming in at four times the price of cow’s milk.
“Here, people are fond of camel milk,” Ali said. “We sell it at $4 per liter.”
Customers are often familiar with the animals and their standing in Middle Eastern culture.
“I lived in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. Since then, I have liked the camels, the friends of the desert,” one prospective buyer, Alamgir Hossain, told Arab News as he visited the farm.
Others, like Sulaiman Hossain, visit the farm out of curiosity.
“Camels are animals of the desert. I heard of this camel farm a couple of months back,” he said. “I am amazed to see how camels are bred here in Bangladesh without any desert.”
But his chances of going home with one of them are slim.
The farm’s manager said it was not likely that more animals would be sold in the Eid season as the farm is careful to keep enough animals for breeding.
“It takes around two years to get a baby camel from a mother. We feed them straw, grass, husk ... During hot summers, these camels drink up to 20 liters of water a day,” Ali said. “Camel rearing is not very easy here.”
