In honor of Eid al-Adhha [Greater Bairam, or the Feast of Sacrifice] the Saudis will slaughter 10 million sheep at a cost of 7 billion riyals ($1.8 billion) for personal consumption, in addition to 2 million sheep as gifts for the pilgrims who are performing the Hajj rites.

The average price of a sheep is $226-480.

[This is the time of the year when thousands of people in many Muslim countries end up in the emergency rooms because of injuries sustained to hands of inexperienced individuals who slaughter their sheep at home.]

al-Sharq al-Awsat, December 18, 2007