A 30-year-old man was killed Tuesday evening in a collision between a car and a camel near Tze'elim on Highway 222 in southern Israel.
Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics were called to the scene of the accident and were forced to determine his death.
MDA paramedic Yaniv Oved said: "When we arrived on the scene we saw a camel lying on the road and the vehicle at the sie of the road with serious damage to its front.
"The driver of the vehicle, a man about 30 years old, was unconscious with a very serious systemic injury. He was without any signs of life and we had no choice but to determine his death,” he said.
Following the fatal camel accident, the Regavim movement called on Agriculture Minister Alon Schuster to complete the implementation of the Camel Law, enacted in the Knesset in summer 2018, but which has not yet been fully implemented by the Veterinary Service.
The Veterinary Service was given a six-month period to implement the law before it came into effect in February 2019. Contrary to the position of Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel, who supported the law, the Veterinary Service opposed the legislation and the requirement to register and identify all camels with subcutaneous microchips. Bedouin living in the Negev region own the camels and allow them to roam freely.
"Tragically, tonight we are once again seeing unnecessary loss of life on the blood-drenched roads of the Negev. This is an inconceivable price to pay; the tragedy is compounded by the fact that it was both foreseeable and avoidable,” says Meir Deutsch, Director General of Regavim. "I call upon the incoming Minister of Agriculture Alon Schuster, who is well aware of this terrible situation that has claimed so many victims, to roll up his sleeves without delay, and to insure that the Camel Law is implemented immediately and in full.”
The Camel Law was initiated in response to the death of David Cohen, a resident of Negev Kibbutz Retamim who was killed by a stray camel in 2014.