A day at Kano abattoir

The gates were double facing each other on a small road linking to the IBB road and the roofs on the warehouses are visible from quite a distance, but what is outside does not depict the inside. Meat sellers are seen in front of the wall selling all forms of meat, beef, mutton, and even […]

The gates were double facing each other on a small road linking to the IBB road and the roofs on the warehouses are visible from quite a distance, but what is outside does not depict the inside. Meat sellers are seen in front of the wall selling all forms of meat, beef, mutton, and even cow tail which some people relish, while inside, it is a little bit different.

For to see the camels as they were slaughtered, was supposed to be there by 8 am one butcher told me the other day and so I was just in time to see these elegant animals being dragged out of the sheds with long ropes and a man at the back will be carrying a strong cane to beat the animal in a disgusting manner especially for a stranger like me. The camel cries in pain or despair to the indifferent butchers.

Then its front leg is tied with the back and then pulled down with a thump to the ground. It was slaughtered with a knife as sharp as a razor. As blood gushes out on the cemented floor into the gutters, the camel slowly dies and immediately, a young butcher begins the skinning of the camel while another cuts off the head.

The camels were seen from a back shed where they are tamed, the place called Kara is found in most towns in the northern parts of the country and even some parts of the south like in Lagos and Port Harcourt, their long necks swinging out after a long journey from Maigatari in Jigawa State where they are brought or Maiduwa in Katsina State as well as Gaidam and Gashua in Yobe State. Most of them are coming from Niger Republic however as the towns mentioned above border the neighbouring Niger Republic, they are a stop over to Kano.

After they are slaughtered, they are taken into refrigerated trucks and transported to various parts of the country. Notable places are Zaria, Kaduna,Lagos, Enugu and Port Harcourt. Some are sold to retailers who dissect it for the local market.   

Alhaji Danlarai Muhammad is the  supervisor of the camel butchers and is a subordinate of the chairman of the abattoir who oversees the activities of the camel section and on sighting him I headed towards him and while sipping a cup of tea, he explained the business of camel slaughtering.

“We have been in this business for 30 years in this very place with a vast experience in the business spanning over the years; we thank God that we live in peace with people and a lot of interactions are involved in this venture. The camel is not just a fine animal, it has a lot to offer man some even yet to be found,” he said

On what it takes to begin as a butcher of camels, Danlarai says you only need to have good intention and some amount of money depending on your means but the most important thing is to be willing to grow, and to have a high level of commitment to the business. “ A lot of people come with a bad intent. We have the means of tracing them and if we realize that their spiritual world is unreliable, then we deal with them,” he added.

He revealed that the business needs one to be protective of one`s self against the evils of the fellow butchers. He says a special charm and fixation is desirable. But it is treated usually in the most confidential way as he politely declined to comment further.

The price of the camel is determined by factors ranging from its age, its fat which can be accessed by the butcher by grabbing its back and hump and specie, but the prices also vary and is also influenced highly by the owners as well as the middle men who would want to get a commission. The prices range from N50,000 to N85,000 for the smaller ones and N100,000 to N130,000 for the big ones according to Danlarai.

The camel is an animal that has some spiritual value especially to the Muslims as sacrifices are done with it for expiation purposes. This is called Hadya, and many camels are slaughtered for this purpose and the meat consumed. To this, Danlarai says arrangements’ are sometimes on contractual basis for the execution of such a religious rite with them and the public.

The festive periods like christmas, sallah and maulud are times when the market booms as there are high demand for meat , while influential people buy in whole to slaughter personally and distribute to the needy and  relations.   

Medicinal purposes

The duo of Danlarai and Aminu Dan Alhaji took some time to explain the medicinal relevance of the camel. First, the milk has been used from time to alleviate ulcer in the stomach, claims Dan Alhaji and it is very effective he said. “ We charge people for these items. Sometimes you have to book for these things as they are not found anywhere,” he said.

“People come here to collect the dung. You know the camel has the well known power of water retention. It lives without water for more than a week, so farmers use the dung to prevent drought, if the rains stop, their crops don’t die easily,” maintained Danlarai.

According to him,the urine is used to treat cough and associated diseases; the fat is used by women as  skin cream and other medicinal purposes .

Camel butchers keep cutting the meat and placing it on large basins, while the business continues with blood all over the place, as men pull more camels from the yard. It is indeed a lucrative business which has made the butchers into well to-do-members of the society and making the means of livelihood for others who utilize the byproducts like the skin, fat and bones.