MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A loose camel reportedly killed two people Thursday afternoon in Obion County, Tennessee.
According to the Obion County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call of a loose camel attacking people near Shirley Farms on South Bluff Road in Obion at 4:44 p.m. Thursday.
Deputies arrived on the scene and found two people unconscious and the camel still on the loose.
The sheriff’s office says Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lake County Rescue Squad, the Ridgely Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol all responded to the scene to help move the victims to a safe place.
According to the sheriff’s office, the camel attacked an Obion County Sheriff’s Office vehicle and then moved toward the deputies. The sheriff’s office said the officers put the camel down “for the safety of everyone on the scene.”
The two victims died of their injuries. The sheriff’s office has identified them as 42-year-old Bobby Matheny of Ridgely and 67-year-old Tommy Gunn of Obion.
There is no word on how the camel got loose.
The Tennessee Safari Park director said in a Facebook post:
“The animal in question, was never part of a “petting zoo”. The animal was held in a breeding situation away from the public or visitors and used for breeding purposes along with other domestic livestock adjacent but not at the petting zoo open to the public each October. I have no knowledge of how the animal was let out.”
Click here to read the full statement.
Obion is about 100 miles north of Memphis.
