Lahore: A camel competition was held at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) to observe World Camel day on Wednesday.

Farrukh Ejaz’s ten feet high Sher Dil from Gujranwala stood first in the camel weight contest, weighing 1,417 kilograms, while another camel weighing 1361 kilograms took second place. The owner claimed that his camels are the most beautiful and heaviest in the world.

In the camel beauty contest, Hunain’s camel stood first, Ejaz’s second and Malik Babar’s third.

Patterns and designs drawn in the camels’ fur drew a lot of attention from the audience. Most of the designs are a continuation of Sindh’s thousands of years of artistic heritage.

Camel barbering in Pakistan is a distinctive blend of art and symbolism. The artists make the patterns by cutting the rough hairy coat of the camels with scissors in multiple stages. Later, some of them apply natural dyes including henna to colour the motives. The owners said that these animals are treated like their own children.

The owner whose camel stood first got a prize of Rs300,000, the second placed one received Rs200,000 and Rs100,000 was awarded for third place.