Gentle giants
While camels are often seen as gentle giants – valued for their loyalty, endurance, and ability to thrive in harsh desert conditions – this tragedy has sparked a serious conversation about animal welfare and human responsibility.
Experts warn that while camels are generally docile, they can become dangerously unpredictable when mistreated or pushed beyond their limits.
Crushing strength
Animal behavior specialists have pointed out that despite their relaxed appearance, camels are powerful creatures.
Weighing up to 2,200 pounds and armed with muscular jaws and deadly kicks that can strike in all directions, camels – Bactrian (two humps) and dromedary (one hump) – are far from harmless when provoked.
A camel expert told the Sun: “A full grown adult can fit your head, arm, leg or torso in its mouth. They have enough strength to crush arms and legs along with your neck, while kicking forwards and backwards.
“Camels will do a combination of all those things while kneeling forward to crush you.”
Camels fight back
Incidents of camel attacks, though rare, have been recorded worldwide, most recently in 2023 when a Bactrian retaliated against his owner, who struck the “peaceful” camel in the face after tugging strongly on the animal’s rein.
According to the Sun, the creature trampled his owner to death at a children’s holiday camp in Siberia.
“The animal did not appreciate such treatment,” said a local report, per the Sun.
Then, in March 2022, two men trying to capture a camel who escaped from a petting zoo were cornered and killed by the beast. The animal then tried to attack police as they loaded the inured men into an ambulance.
Before that horrifying incident, another camel charged at the owner of a wildlife sanctuary in Mexico.
“The camel kicked and bit him practically to death, and when he was almost dead, he sat on him,” The Sun reported of Richard Mileski, 60. “Between the blows and the weight of the camel on top of him, he was asphyxiated.”
These stories stand as a brutal reminder that animals, no matter how domesticated they seem, have breaking points. Treat them with kindness and respect and you’ll get the same in return!
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