Abused camel recovering after emergency surgery in Dubai

A camel underwent two hours of surgery to remove pieces of metal, rope and undigested food after its digestive system collapsed.

Veterinary surgeons recovered pieces of metal, rope and undigested food from a camel's stomach yesterday, as they raced to save the suffering beast's life.

The medical team at Dubai Municipality’s veterinary section were forced to operate for two hours, after the animal’s digestive system collapsed.

“The camel was suffering from acute pain in the stomach after it had eaten some substance that was not easily digested,” said Dr Murad Mustafa of the veterinary unit.

Dr Mustafa, who supervised the operation, said camels swallowed inedible items when severely hungry and when neglected. He said this caused a collapse of the digestive system and death.

“In such instances sudden surgery is needed to save the animal’s life,” he said.

When the camel was brought in from Al Tayy area, the medical team dosed it with medicine and stimulants to try to revive its digestion.

“When we realised that the medicine wasn’t working, we prepared to carry out surgery immediately to clean the stomach from the harmful substance and ensure that further risk was avoided,” Dr Mustafa said.

“After two days of rest, the camel is now at home and eating and drinking as before.”

Mohammed Al Hammadi, the municipality’s acting head of veterinary services, said such cases occurred out of negligence and poor management of the animals’ living area.

“We should be more alert to avoid incidents like these,” Mr Al Hammadi said. “We have to be more careful about the environment of farms.”