A Randy Camel In Australia Humped Its Owner To Death
Adobe StockAustralia’s wild camel population has grown since they were first introduced as pack animals in the 1800s.
For Pam Weaver’s 60th birthday in 2007, her husband Noel got her a camel to keep as a pet. Halfway to her 61st birthday, Pam Weaver was killed by her pet camel.
Weaver was discovered by her husband and daughter at the family’s sheep and cattle ranch near Mitchell, Australia, Metro reported.
Weaver’s daughter was in the middle of cooking dinner, a fresh cup of tea on set out on the table, when she ran out to the backyard to find that the 330-pound camel had knocked her mother to the ground and apparently attempted to mate with her, ultimately crushing her beneath its weight.
She had “one definite footprint” on the side of her face and another on her arm.
Detective Craig Gregory, who was present at the scene, said, “I would say it had probably been playing or it may even be a sexual sort of thing.”
Camel expert Chris Hill, however, said he had no doubts the camel’s behavior was sexual.
In fact, the 10-month-old camel had been displaying erratic behavior for some time before the incident, reportedly attempting to straddle other animals including the family’s pet goat, according to The Courier Mail.
“It had a bit of a habit with a goat, knocking it over and sort of straddling it and laying on top of it,” Gregory said. “It’s been chased off the goat a few times.”
Pam Weaver, evidently, had a love of exotic pets. For her birthday, her family had considered buying her a llama or alpaca, but they found that the animals were too expensive.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Australia has a fairly large wild camel population which has grown since they were introduced to the country in the 1800s — which made the camel a more affordable pet option.
Hill also explained that young camels aren’t aggressive creatures, but they also aren’t necessarily pets and could be dangerous if treated as such.
“It was only young and it had been hand-reared,” Gregory said. “It drinks out of a bottle and eats out of your hand.”
