Runaway camel stomps elderly man

PALMDALE, Calif. – A camel escaped from an enclosure in a Southern California community Friday, stomped a 72-year-old man who tried to capture it, and chased other people before it calmed down and was corralled.

The camel escaped in the unincorporated community of Acton and was reported chasing cars shortly after 8:30 a.m.

“My dad … tried to catch it and it must have cornered him or something, and it took off after him, bit him on the head and knocked him down and stomped on him,” Skylar Dossenbach said. “He crawled under something and the camel tried to pull him out from under it.”

Her father was hospitalized and needed stitches for a gash to his head, she said.

“A neighbor came out and saw the commotion and got the camel away from him,” Dossenbach said. “And the camel actually started chasing them, and they had to jump in a car, and the camel was running around after everybody.”

Dossenbach said she finally ended up capturing the camel.

“I just put a halter on him, fed him a treat and he calmly walked down to my round pen and I corralled him,” she said.

Animal control officials seized the camel because the owner does not have a permit and because of the injury. The owner could be cited for endangering residents.

Dossenbach said the camel and other animals, including a buffalo and an ostrich, have escaped from the owner’s property before.