This poor camel has been waking up locals after it was smuggled up to a fifth-floor flat, where it is being kept on the balcony ready to be sacrificed for an upcoming religious festival.

Residents of the municipal division of El Basatin (population 497,041) in Egypt’s Cairo Governorate who saw the dromedary were baffled as to how it got up there.

Local resident Ibrahim Abdel Fattah said: “Only one question came to my mind: how did the camel climb to the balcony of the fifth floor?

“When I saw the camel, I was surprised by the scene, not because it was a camel, but because it had come to the fifth floor in the first place, and its voice was very loud and disturbing.”

Some speculated that the camel’s grunts and groans might be due to the fact that it is aware of its impending fate, as many people have been acquiring livestock including camels in preparation for upcoming Eid al-Adha celebrations, when they will be sacrificed.

The celebration, which will begin on the evening of Monday, 19th July and end on the evening of Friday, 23rd July, is one of two official Islamic holidays celebrated throughout the Muslim world.

During the festival, Muslims sacrifice either a sheep, goat, camel or cow and then divide the flesh amongst themselves, the poor, friends and neighbours.

They do this to commemorate when Ibrahim went to sacrifice his son, Ismail, on Allah’s orders, with Allah then providing a lamb to sacrifice instead.

Camels are significant in Islam, with the religious texts stating that after Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina, he let his female camel roam freely and later built his house on the spot where it finally stopped to rest.