The United Nations General Assembly declared 2024 as the International Year of Camelids with the unfortunate aim of exploiting them for their meat, milk, fibre and means of transport.

Therefore in January 2024 BWC wrote to the new CM of Rajasthan informing him that we had over the years managed to save from different places in India a great number of camels from animal sacrifice/slaughter and exploitation by way of joy-rides, and that they had been sent back to Rajasthan. If Rajasthan takes good care of its camels, we were sure they would not be sold and smuggled out of the state by the camel mafia. After all, the Rajasthan desert is their homeland. It provides them with an adequate and ideal diet along with climatic conditions that they require to thrive and remain healthy. We suggested vast sanctuaries with desert trees should be established where camels can live without being exploited for their milk, meat, hide or for transport/entertainment.

The different breeds of camels in India are: Bikaneri, Jaisalmeri, Kachchhi, Mewari and Jalori Camels.

The camel population has shown a declining trend over the last 4 Livestock Censuses, i.e. 17th (2003), 18th (2007), 19th (2012) and 20th (2019) when it was 2.5 lakh, having decreased by 37.1% over the previous Census.

The population of camels in India – at one time the third largest in the world – is on the decline. The Thar Desert of Rajasthan is their homeland. It provides them an adequate and ideal vegan diet along with climatic conditions that they require to thrive and remain healthy.

However, growing urban areas – industrialisation together with pressure on agricultural land, has led to the loss of the camels’ natural grazing land. Many desert trees like kumut, khejari, rohida, kair, jal and bordi consumed by camels have been uprooted for solar projects; moreover, the sharp edges of the panels themselves can hurt the camels.

Illegal slaughter for meat is another reason why their population is dipping. The Raika or Raibari community, considered the guardians of the camel breeding herds or tolas, never sold female camels to any one except from their community, but gradually the situation has changed and many are sold by them at Pushkar for meat. There was also a time when they never sold camel milk but shared free like during the famine that hit Rajasthan in 1937, believing that camels were just like their children.

A 1997 survey put the population of camels in Rajasthan at nearly 700,000. In 2003 there was a decline of about 23% (bringing down the number to 4,98,000) and another decline of 18% in 2007 when the next camel census was undertaken. So by 2012 it was not surprising that only 4,21,836 camels were said to be left in the state although the NRCC (National Research Centre on Camel) had earlier stated India had 5,17,000 camels. They also stated that only 8,800 of the Mewari breed – which is dwindling fast – are left and they are the ones that are good for milk production with an average of 7-8 litres per day, as compared to Jaisalmeri or Bikaneri breeds which produce on an average only 5-6 litres of milk per day.

In 2014, the Lokhit Pashu Palak Santhan (a NGO in Rajasthan that promotes camels and their produce) declared that the camel population had fallen from 4 lakh to 2 lakh in the state and it was imperative for the milk be legally sold. In 2019 they estimated that less than 0.2 million were left in Rajasthan because camels are being sold and breeding has fallen despite the Rajasthan government having introduced in 2016 the Ustra Vikas Yojana (Camel Development Scheme) under which Rs 10,000/- would be given in three instalments after camel is born. They are no longer needed for transportation across the desert since roads have been constructed for vehicles. Similarly tractors have replaced camels ploughing fields like synthetic fertilisers have taken the place of camel manure and last but not least there are hardly are grazing grounds and pastures (the Forest Department needs to be paid Rs 100/- annually per camel for grazing in sanctuaries).

An all-India estimate of the 2014-15 camel population was therefore no more than 3 lakh, that is 2 lakh in Rajasthan and 1 lakh in Gujarat with the latter fast declining. However, later surveys by herders in Bikaner, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer and Nagaur have found the camel population having gone down to 1 to 1.25 lakh and they estimate 84% of camels are in Rajasthan – a big drop from over 6.50 lakh in the late 1990s. The problem deepened with the launch of the canal in Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Sri Ganganagar districts for which several thousand acres of pasture lands were wiped out.

The lifespan of a camel is 20 years. It starts breeding at about 4 years but conceives once in 2½ years. There is therefore no way in which their numbers can multiply fast.

Although there are camels in Uttar Pradesh also, every month about 6,000 from Rajasthan are taken there. They are either illegally slaughtered for their meat, leather and bones, or are smuggled live along with cows to Bangladesh (via other states) where they are killed for meat. Made to walk great distances, even though their feet bleed, they undergo great hardships en route their destination.

Likewise, thousands more are taken out of Rajasthan and land up in different states and cities of India where they are commercially exploited. Despite suffering and eventually dying, it is a pity that Rajasthan has not been able to totally implement its ban on camels from going out of the state, not to say that camels within the state are not exploited.

Unfortunately, camels from Rajasthan were also taken to different states like Jharkhand and used extensively as "campaign vehicles" for the 2009 elections. They were draped in banners and made to move around the city for Rs 500/- to Rs 1000/- per day. It is sad that the politicians showed no concern for the animals.

In India camels are native to Rajasthan and Gujarat; their physiology is suited to a dry desert climate (hot day, cool night) because they can go for long periods without drinking water and their padded feet are suited to soft desert sands. Camels therefore find it difficult to walk long distances and adjust to humid climatic conditions since they are desert animals. During the monsoon, most of them get contagious diseases such as anthrax and suffer and die, often without the required medical treatment. Also, outside Rajasthan and Gujarat, they do not get their ideal diet of desert shrubs and plants as a result of which they do not keep good health. BWC has therefore written more than once to both the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Gujarat pleading that they totally ban the export of camels from their states. Likewise, BWC has also requested the government of Uttar Pradesh to ban import and export.

In fact, for decades BWC has been writing to the Rajasthan government about the terrible plight of camels, so few months before July 2014 when state heritage status was accorded to the camel, BWC was pleased to receive a letter from the government saying they were considering it and that they planned on passing legislation to effectively check smuggling and slaughter of camels out of the state. BWC reiterated its stand and strongly suggested that the proposed law should not only stop camels being subjected to physical cruelty (e.g. use of nose-pegs, and over-loading) and commercial exploitation (e.g. entertainment, camel racing, and safaris) within the state, but a ban on them leaving Rajasthan should be enforced as soon as possible. The Raibari community objected that their animals needed to be migrated out of the state for grazing and mating. That they are bought and sold by camel mafia and land up being slaughtered they were reluctant to acknowledge.

In March 2015 the Rajasthan Camel Bill 2014 declared the camel endangered because there were less than 2 lakh animals left in the state. By banning its slaughter and export, the bill granted the camel a legal status on par with the cow. Prohibition of slaughter and regulation of temporary migration or exports of camels to prevent slaughter, illegal trade and transportation are included along with promotion of camel milk in the state’s food security programme. The Raibari community believe camel milk cures for malaria if consumed for 10-12 days.

A year earlier, soon after granting the camel state animal status (the chinkara also enjoys this status) Rajasthan woke up to the so-called therapeutic potential of camel milk and approached the Food Safety and standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to legalise its sale. If not as food – as medicine! But, FSSAI did not agree for some years despite the claim that it imparts several health benefits and supposedly has aphrodisiacal properties too. They eventually gave the green signal in 2017. Interestingly, in the late 1990s the Rajasthan High Court had ruled camel milk was unfit for human consumption and although the Supreme Court overturned the ruling a year later, FSSAI had refused to legalise its sale. In USA too a camel milk firm was warned in 2017 over health benefit claims. Yet Australia with its biggest herd of wild camels in the world has been expanding its global milk supply.

Prior to 2024 the ICAR-led National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC) had collaborated with Rajasthan Co-operative Dairy Federation to buy camel milk (under the guise of a nutraceutical supplement) from the Raika community. The NRCC via research institutions continues in its quest to find so-called benefits from camel milk consumption for patients suffering from TB, dengue, diabetes, as well as children with autism. The India Institute of Science in Bengaluru has begun developing anti-snake venom using camel serum.

Camels are put under great stress: made to give “joy-rides” to many adults and children, and are frequently taken in processions where loud crackers are burst and there is a lot of commotion. When exhausted, they collapse and cry out in pain, but are forcefully pulled forward with ropes strung through the metal rings in their nostrils.

No wonder they retaliate. If tourists were wise about their own safety and had compassion for animals, they would not ride camels, elephants, ponies, etc. In January 2015 a man in Ahmedabad was killed by a camel that bit him on his head; his caretaker who tried to stop the attack was also bitten on his leg, but survived. This goes to prove that not only do elephants get angry, but so do other animals and hit out at humans.

Spared

Un-fair