In Senegal, giant rams, tabaski stars<

Liddated by flashing lights evoking more a nightclub than an enclosure, a ram the size of a small pony starts towards sheep twice as little as it.

The shady male and its females live on a roof covered with Dakar, equipped with ceiling fans and false candlesticks.A sumptuous decor that betrays the affection felt Abdou Fatah Diop, 40, for his favorite animal.

"It's a real passion.I forget everything else, "he says, admitting that he spends more money on his ram and sheep than for his own family.

But his breeding is also an important source of income: Abdou Fatah Diop, sold at gold prices the lambs caused by his favorite animal to other breeders, anxious to improve their livestock.

Ladoum rare-rail rags, with horns-shaped horns and which can reach the impressive 1m20 size in the tourniquet and weigh 175 kg are very popular in Senegal, a country where sheep breedObject of television shows.

The most prosperous Senegalese do not hesitate to pay a small fortune to immolate a Ladoum ram during the sacrifice feast, Eid Al-Adha, which is called Tabaski in West Africa, scheduled in the middle of the weeknext.

On this occasion, the Senegalese visit their loved ones and share with family and with their neighbors a sheep sacrificed the same day.

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- "Mystify the neighbors" -

Abu Kane, another sheep farmer, has dozens of Ladoum rams, which he puts up for a large white tent in the center of Dakar, on the occasion of the Tabaski.

Its customers will pay up to two million CFA francs (3.000 euros) to be able to sacrifice such an animal.

"It is a very popular breed because of its size, its weight, its splendor.The Ladoum is an exceptional breed that one does not find anywhere else, "he ignites.

Sacrify such an animal for Tabaski has become a way to proclaim before all a high social status in Senegal, where almost 40% of the population lives with less than 1.70 euros per day, according to the World Bank.

But sellers have sheep for all budgets and the main Dakar cattle market is filled with thousands of sheep and ruminating goats, watched by shepherds with colorful clothes, from all over the country, Wolof communities, Peule, Sérère and even Mali and Mauritania neighboring.

Each year for Tabaski, 260.000 sheep that is consumed in the Dakar region alone, explains Mamadou Talla, 61, president of the Foirail of the small ruminants of Dalifort -Pikine - the market which provides almost half of these animals.

"80% of the cattle we consume during the Tabaski, comes from Senegal.Compared to what the imams tell us, a good sheep of 60.000 CFA francs (90 euros) may be enough as sacrifice.But people still tend to want to mystify the lady, mystify the neighbors.So they will look for a big ram, they also do it for the pleasure of the family, for the pleasure of children, "he said.

- "If you are a wacky..." -

And the breeder Abu Kane recalls that in Islam, the richest have the obligation to sacrifice the most beautiful animals.

"The Senegalese are good Muslims.And we must not forget that the word sacrifice has a meaning.A hadith (extract from a collection of traditions relating to the acts and words of the Prophet Muhammad, editor's note) says that the breeder, at the time of the Tabaski, must immolate his strongest ram, the one who has the most meat, whois the greatest.We don't sacrifice anything ".

But for El Hadji Mamadou Ndiaye, an imam at the Great Mosque of Dakar, religion does not impose on the faithful to go into debt.

"The sheep does not need to be beautiful.It can be black, white, brown or tricolor...", he recalls.His age and the way of killing it imports in particular, according to Islamic tradition.

"We are a poor country, but people do everything to have a big sheep.If you are a wacky, you can buy what you want to impress the neighborhood, but it's out of vanity, "he regrets.

"The very large sheep, usually we can't even consume them: the meat is too hard!".