This story is almost hard to believe. A camel from a small Minnesota zoo is making headlines after seemingly attacking two zookeepers this week.

In other zoo-related news, another zoo was at the forefront just last month when somebody broke into it. It was a zoo in Wisconsin and sadly, animals at the time went missing. The good news is that the animals have been returned to the zoo.

The incident in question happened at the Ochsner Park Zoo. The Ochsner Park Zoo is located in Baraboo, Wisconsin. I am glad that this story had a happy ending because animals missing from a zoo is absolutely terrible.

This story is a bit more extreme. The incident happened at Hemker Park & Zoo in Freeport, Minnesota. If you aren't familiar with the town, Freeport is about three hours from the Twin Ports. It is located past St. Cloud.

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The Stearns County Sheriff's Office sent out a press release on Wednesday (July 13th), shortly after the incident happened. Their report states that everything happened around three o'clock the same afternoon.

So what happened? A zoo employee was "escorting the camel through an alleyway" to prepare it to be transported to a different facility. It was during this walk that the camel put the employee's "head into its mouth" but it doesn't stop there. The camel then bit down on the employee's head.

From there, according to the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, the camel dragged the employee by his head about fifteen feet. Thankfully, another employee saw this happening and jumped into action, placing a plastic walking board into the animal's mouth. This resulted in the camel letting go of the first employee's head.

The report states that the employee was able to run to safety. However, the camel then charged at the second employee who came to help, biting his head. After the incident, the zoo shared the following on their Facebook page:

At 2:37pm today during normal zoological operations there was an interaction between one of our owners and a camel. Our owner did sustain minor injuries and is expected to make a full recovery. The camel was not injured during the interaction and remains in good health. We thank you all for your continued support.

In a separate post, zoo officials shared another update, writing that the employee had sustained minor injuries and is expected to make a full recovery. The second employee who intervened to help walked away from the incident with no reported injuries.

As of the time of writing, the latest update is a great one from zoo officials. They shared the following statement on Thursday (July 14th), one day after the incident happened, also on their official Facebook page:

We wanted to give everyone an update on yesterday’s interaction. The owner was discharged earlier today and is going to have a full recovery. The camel is doing well with no injuries and is enjoying the beautiful weather. We thank everyone for reaching out, prayers and support. We will continue to be a family fun destination for Minnesotans.

 

I am glad this story has a happy ending. It has been picked up nationally, with the story being shared everywhere from People Magazine to FOX News to USA Today. It's not everyday that you read a story about a camel biting a human, let alone two.

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