A rampaging camel escaped from a petting zoo in Tennesse and killed two men on Thursday, local officials said.
The frenzied camel attacked and killed Bobby Matheny, 42, and Tommy Gunn, 67, both from The Volunteer State, in Obion, roughly 100 miles northeast of Memphis.
Responding law enforcement officers said they’d killed the humped beast.
The Obion County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that they responded to a report at around 4:45 p.m., about a loose camel attacking civilians near the Shirley Farms petting Zoo.
When cops arrived, they found the two victims lying unconscious on the ground and the camel on the loose. Paramedics were called to the scene to provide first aid and get the victims to safety.
As cops were carrying one of the victims into an ambulance, the camel reappeared and attacked their vehicle. Officers had no choice but to shoot the camel dead for the safety of everyone on the scene,” the statement said.
Matheny and Gunn were gravely injured and were pronounced dead at the scene.
It is unclear how the camel got loose.
According to a relative of one of the victims, the two men were trying to help capture the camel when the animal cornered them and attacked, stomping both of them to death.
A camel expert told WTVF that a fully grown camel has enough strength to crush human arms, legs and neck while kicking forward and backward.
“Most animals can only kick backwards. Camels will do a combination of all those things while kneeling forward to crush you,” the expert said.
Shirley Farms told CBS News about how devastated they are about the attack but provided no further details.
Matheny’s online obituary says he had worked as a janitor at Lake County High School. A funeral service has been scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday in the school’s gymnasium.
