Why Has Cow Slaughter Been Banned In Saudi Arabia During Hajj?

Makkah: Saudi Arabian authorities have banned the slaughter of cows and camels during the Hajj occasion, which occurs during an annual 84-hour-long sacrifice marathon marking the celebration of Eid al-Adha, a major festival celebrated by Muslims worldwide.

The Hajj pilgrims have been asked to offer the sacrifice of sheep only to commemorate a ritual started by Prophet Abraham thousands of years ago.

Saudi Arabia's state-of-the-art slaughterhouse in Makkah. (ETV Bharat)

“We are not sacrificing cows and camels during the Hajj period. The Saudi authorities have banned the sacrifice of large animals after the outbreak of coronavirus in 2019," said Seraj Mohammad Alfelali, General Manager of Hadi and Adahi, a government-run Programme that manages a state-of-the-art slaughterhouse spread over an area of one million square meters where the world’s largest quantity of red meat is stored during the Hajj period.

Alfelali said that modern machinery has been employed to execute the animals, in compliance with Muslim jurisprudence procedures during the Hajj period.

The slaughterhouse has been established in the vicinity of the sacred valley of Mina, where pilgrims initiate the Hajj pilgrimage by offering select prayers during a time frame. Each pilgrim offers a sacrifice after the culmination of the 5-day pilgrimage as a token of thanksgiving and commemoration.

Camels graze in the desert near a road between Riyadh and al-Ahsa, some 200 kilometers east of the Saudi capital, on March 15, 2026. (AFP)

Alfelali took the media team on a tour of the slaughterhouse, explaining the several stages of animal sacrifice—from execution of the animals to the storage of meat in 20 expansive deep freezers.

He said the animals are medically checked before execution, and the meat is stored after a second round of medical checks. He said that on average, one million heads of sheep are slaughtered in the facility, with each pilgrim paying SAR 720 for one animal.

This mass slaughter of animals deviates from past practices when Hajj pilgrims offered sacrifices in their presence with traditional methods. “Pilgrims now register with us online after paying the price of the sacrificial animal. We inform the pilgrim about the timing of execution through phone messages, which enables them to proceed with the further stages of the pilgrimage," Alfelali said. Pilgrims are also informed through their countries' commission offices.

Saudi Arabia's state-of-the-art slaughterhouse in Makkah. (ETV Bharat)

The meat from sacrificial animals does not remain in the freezers for long periods. Immediately after the Hajj pilgrimage ends and pilgrims leave for their countries, Hadi and Adahi officials begin distributing it across the world.

“We send the meat of sacrificial animals to almost 37 Muslim countries across the world. Some countries approach our government for it. We also monitor the United Nations Poverty Index and select the countries with the poorest Muslim populations in the world,” Alfelali said.

But what happens to tonnes of animal waste piled up after the mass execution of animals? The authorities say that the older practice of dumping the waste in landfills is being gradually abandoned.

The National Center for Waste Management (MWAN) has launched a model livestock city project in Makkah that provides the slaughterhouse with advanced rendering technology to process organic waste during the Hajj season.

Muslim worshippers gather around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque complex in the holy city of Mecca on May 23, 2026, at the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam which must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means. (AFP)

A MWAN official said the project utilises an integrated operational grid, equipped with specialised units for blood, fat, and offal processing, bone grinding, and automated odour control systems, to process up to 2,500 tons of solid and liquid waste annually.

"The public-private partnership project is aimed at transforming waste streams, which comprise roughly 45% of slaughtered animal mass, into valuable, market-ready commodities, including organic liquid fertilisers, protein powders, and animal feed components,” the official said.

“This is a scalable circular economy blueprint for future nationwide expansion,” he boasted.

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