FREEPORT, Minn. – A camel with a cantankerous history acted out his displeasure and grabbed a zookeeper’s head and bit in and held on. The camel dragged Roger Blenker about 15 feet. A fellow zookeeper forccd a board into the camel’s mouth, which then released Blenker, who was able to stand up and run a safe distance. The camel then charged at the other employee and bit his head. Seth Wickson, 42, was able to escape unhurt on his own. Blenker, 32, of Albany, was airlifted 30 miles to a St. Cloud hospital. He was expected to be kept overnight. His injuries were described as minor. The camel was unhurt. The attack occurred in a narrow timber-lined passage, which a zoo official at the Hemker Park and Zoo described as a “routine operation.”
Mongolian camel profile
A large even-toed ungulate native to the Bactrian steppes of central Asia. They have two humps, unlike to the single-hump dromedary camel. Bactrians have served as pack animals since ancient times. They have tolerance for cold, drought and high altitudes, They were imported to the United States several times in the 1800s, both by the U.S. military and by merchants and miners looking for pack animals sturdier and hardier than horses and mules. The U.S. Army brought two shipments of fewer than 100 camels to the desert Southwest. The experimental Army Camel Corps was abandoned during the Civil. The animals turned loose to survive in the wild.
Mongolian camel. Has two humps. Species also called the Bactrian camel.
An alleyway connecting enclosures at Hemker Park and Zoo.