Two men were killed by a camel outside of Memphis, Tennessee, after it escaped from a petting zoo.
The petting zoo located in Obion County had little water for the dromedary camels and no barrier to protect the public at the time of an inspection. The Obion County sheriffs arrived at the zoo after receiving a call about a camel attacking people.
The sheriffs wrote on their Facebook page that they arrived on scene to find two unconscious victims on the ground and a camel still on the loose.
The Obion sheriff's vehicle was attacked by a camel while it was being used to move a victim to the emergency room. The two male victims were pronounced dead at the scene after the camel was put down.
Some animal care issues were noted in the past by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as first reported by The Guardian. The only access to drinking water for the camels and zebra was a small muddy creek in their enclosure, according to the USDA. There was no access to any water sources. Camels are adapted to living in dry climates, but they can only survive for a short time.
There is a barrier between the public and non-human primate but not for any of the other species present including a zebra, camels, llamas, alpacas, goats, sheep, pigs, and fallow deer. The cashier at the exhibit does not have a line of sight on any of the animals.
The San Diego Zoo says that it's not known why the escaped camel was so aggressive. The breeding season for dromedary camels is in the winter or rainy season. When males fight for access to females, they are known to bite at their opponent's legs and take his head in between their jaws in an effort to bring that competitor to the ground, according to the University of Michigan's Museum of Zoology.
A 25-year-old man was attacked by a camel under his care. The man went to the emergency room after the camel bit his face and neck and left him with left eye evisceration and facial nerve injury.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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