Camel Stuck in Mud in Desoto, Mo. July 05,2011

Updated at July 05, 2011 09:46

MERS received a call @ 12:06am from the owner of a camel that had become stuck in mud. The camel was estimated to wiegh between 1,000 to 1,200 Lbs.The owner found the camel, just outside of her barn, exhausted, with her back legs trapped, stuck in approximately 2 feet of mud. The camel was laying on her side, near death with her eyes rolled back. The owner was able to get the camel sternal, then called MERS. Upon our arrival, we quickly put our portable lights in place and evaulated the situation. We successfully used our Nikopolous Needle under the camel in order to get two pieces of webbing in place for lifting. The Nikopolous Needle is a specialized tool, similiar to a huge crochet hook, that allows us to ‘needle’ through the mud, and back out in order to get the webbing around the animals body. Once our webbing was in place, we then brought the owners tractor in, hooked our spreader bar up to the camel, then tractor, and safely lifted the camel into a horizontal postion. We then slowly drove the tractor into the barn away from the muddy area. We continued to evaluate the camel , who appeared to be doing OK, but was very upset. After a few minutes, we released the camel from our equipment, but not before we closed the back barn door. The owner had the veterinarian enroute as we departed. MERS traveled 88 miles round trip for this call, and we arrived back home @ 5:00am.

 

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