Welcome back to Scary Animal Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to a farm in northwest Tennessee, the county of Obion to be precise. Yes, this area is rural and remote but we are discussing a wild animal in this episode, but one of the longest domesticated animals in human history. The Shirley Farm has a portion of it dedicated as a petting zoo, called The Pumpkin Barn. In this little petting zoo there are many smaller animals, but there is nothing small about the dromedary camels there.
On March 10th, 2022, was an interesting day on Shirley Farms in Obion, Tennessee. Forty Two year old high school janitor Bobby Matheny and 67 year old Tommy Gunn were visiting the petting zoo.
They had visited the goats and chickens and moved on to the various other animals at the petting zoo. As they approached the camel and zebra pen, they looked around for the camel. They could see the small seep of water that bisected the pen and provided some kind of water to them but no camel.
As they rounded the corner of the metal gate, they could see a small group of people and a camel. The camel was out of its enclosure and seemed very excited. Some of the people thought that the camel was supposed to be walking around wherever it wanted, but unbeknownst to them, it had escaped its enclosure and was very unhappy.
Let’s review some pretty important details about camels, that probably are not common knowledge. First of all, they are huge! They can stand nearly 7 feet tall at their shoulder and can weigh up to 1300 pounds. They can kick forward and backward equally well and are strong enough to kill just about any animal. The males have a rut season just like deer and elk, and they tend to get ill tempered and impatient during this time. Camels are induced ovulators meaning that females release eggs after they are bred. This creates a somewhat variable breeding season that last through the winter months. Finally, camels have canine teeth!
As Bobby and Tommy were helping some of the others round up the camel, it became aggressive. There were a few people helping round the camel up, but the two people that seemed to have caught the brunt of the animal's anger were these two men. Maybe the camel had a male keeper that it didn’t particularly like and they resembled him somehow. Or maybe these men were unfamiliar with how to handle a large male camel in Musth. Regardless, the events that unfolded next would be frightful and saddening.
As the small crowd of helpful volunteers tried to get the giant camel to cooperate, a camel axiom began to push its way into the ease of American life. Camels are extremely vengeful, and this camel had been left without fresh water for far too long. The small ditch meandering through its pen had fetid water. Camels like fresh water. Once a camel identifies an enemy it takes a lot of making up to win the animal back. This camel had began to identify humans as abusers.
As they tried to direct the camel back to its pen, it began kicking and biting Tommy and Bobby. When a camel bites you it can fit your entire head between its jaws and that is what it did. It repeatedly bit each of the men and put as much of their bodies in its mouth, crushing their necks, arms and legs.
This camel was so upset and angry that it stomped and kicked the men's bodies until police arrived at the location. When the sheriffs began devising a plan to recover the men's bodies, as they were apparently dead, the camel attacked their car. It tried to bite and kicked the police cruiser in an attempt to get the deputies to back off. Due to the danger presented by the violence of the animal, the police shot it and killed it.
They then recovered Tommy and Bobby’s bodies and began an investigation into this event.
The US Department of Agriculture inspected the petting zoo in 2019 and noted that there was no barrier between people and the camels at the time. They had also noted an absence of attendees or employees to watchover things.
My question is did either of these men, or the zoo owners investigate the potential for violence or harm from a camel. In other attacks noted prior to this even an Indian man tied his camel up during the heat of the day and tied up its legs. When he returned to the camel it bit him by his neck and threw his body onto the ground. It tore his head off then nibbled and bit his corpse. It took several hours for the man's neighbors to calm his camel down.
In another attack in Texas prior to this event, two men were killed in similar fashion at a camel breeding operation by a male in Musth during breeding season.
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
