Even animals have not been spared from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s illegal blockade of Qatar.

Thousands of camels and sheep, belonging to Qatari owners that were being raised at the Saudi Arabian border, were sent away through the desert, causing several hundreds of them to die on the way, reported Gulf Times.

Thousands of exhausted camels and sheep were reunited with their owners after having to cross almost 400km of arid desert.

“Thank God I have my camels back!” said Ali Magareh, 40, waiting with his seven-year-old son at the crossing point.

“For one week they kept them waiting there. The camels were starving. Some of the males were fighting and in very bad condition,” he said.

Another Qatari man, in an account published in Gulf Times, recounted the ordeal his animals faced.

“I’m a Qatari citizen who owns a herd of camels, sheep and goats in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where we used to graze and raise them. The Saudi Arabian authorities, while turning them away, treated the animals in a primitive manner.

“It was a normal Sunday when we were surprisingly informed of the Saudi authorities’ decision to ‘deport’ all Qatari-owned camel and goats. We were given 24 hours to take the thousands of camel and goats out of the Kingdom via land.”

“We raced to move them out, but were shocked to learn that Saudi authorities had already gathered all herds in one place near the border. It was very crowded, with more than 10,000 camels and about 2,000 goats in one place,” he said.

“The Saudi authorities used electric lighters and truncheons and also bumped the animals with cars to force them to move quickly. That led to a stampede-like situation and many animals died,” he told the daily.

Earlier, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment has allocated a temporary shelter for animals returning from Saudi Arabia, reported The Peninsula.

Authorities had arranged shelter for about 7,000 camels and 5,000 sheep. The ministry is currently taking stock of the number of animals expected in the country in the next few days and providing them with adequate water and food.