Organisers of the 2026 Camel Beauty Show Festival in Al Musannah in February say they disqualified a total of 20 camels who received cosmetic enhancements including lip fillers and Botox injections.

Camel beauty contests are common in Arab countries and last month’s contest drew participants from every governorate in Oman, according to the state-backed Oman News Agency.

However, illegal enhancements — including artificial hump inflation — are increasingly common, in part due to prize pools growing to tens of millions of dollars.

Saudi Arabia’s rival King Abdulaziz Camel Festival disqualified more than 40 camels in 2021, drawing greater attention to the illegal practices, which animal welfare experts say are cruel.

The Camel Club and the Oman Camel Racing Federation have promised “strict penalties” for those involved in “acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels”, Forbes reports.