Camels, animals quite alien to the environment of the Kurdistan Region, are now on sale in Erbil for Eid al-Adha.

Importers say there is a growing demand among locals for camels to sacrifice during Eid. 

“It has a good sale,” Tahseen Maulud, a camel seller at Erbil Livestock Marketplace, told Rudaw. 

“We have been importing camels from southern Iraq over the past three years.”

So far Maulud says he has sold 30 camels for sacrifice this Eid. 

Each camel weighs around 300 to 400 kilograms and sells for around $2,000. 

As a part of a religious ritual during Eid al-Adha, Muslims slaughter animals and divide the meat into three parts – one part for their family, one part for their friends and neighbors, and one part for the poor as charity. 

The Kurdistan Region population is estimated to be 98 percent Sunni. Eid for the Sunni community began on Tuesday, August 21. For Shiites it began on Wednesday. 

This year, demand for animal sacrifices was down in the Kurdistan Region owing to the economic crisis, leading to lower prices. 

Photos: Anadolu Agency