Agriculture authorities in the town of Dhulam are growing increasingly concerned at reports of cattle deaths seemingly due to the consumption of barley and berseem following the death of four sheep and two camels on Friday. Four other sheep are also reported to have fallen ill in the town, which lies east of Makkah. Mut'ib Al-Oteibi, a local cattle owner, said that two of his camels first showed signs of illness last week, and added that teams from the Ministry of Agriculture had not taken samples for analysis but had instead conducted a routine examination. The camels died on Friday. According to the head of the ministry branch in Dhulam, Abdullah Al-Shahrani, samples from both animals and fodder have been sent for analysis to the Ministry of Agriculture to discover the source of the as yet unidentified illness. Al-Shahrani, citing veterinary reports, said that the death of Al-Oteibi's camels were due to blood poisoning and inflammations. “The illness is not contagious,” Al
