Camel Attacks Man at South Carolina Fair, Riders Terrified

Warning: Footage might be distressing

A woman shared footage of a camel attacking a handler at a fair in Ladson, South Carolina, on Oct. 25.

Jackie Best Brumley said that the clip was initially “posted on the fair site and it was removed.”

“Be careful of the camel Lawrence. It attacked the handler, biting him several times, stepping on him,” she warned on Facebook. “Had him up against the fence. The other workers stood by doing nothing. You can hear me yell ‘This is serious guys,’” she added.

Brumley continued, “Imagine if kids were up there.”

According to ABC4, Brumley was riding the camel when it attacked the handler, biting him several times. The large pack animal also stepped on the handler, who was not identified.

“Very scary,” Brumley told the outlet. “No one had a hold of the camel’s lead. I was most worried about the handler. He looked terrified when the camel was attacking him.”

A woman shared footage of a camel attacking a handler at a fair in Ladson, S.C. on Oct. 25, 2018. Todd Brumley via Storyful

Owner Surprised

Charles Deam III, the owner of All-American Camel Rides, said it’s the first time in 20 years that he’s owned the business that a camel has attacked someone.

“No one was harmed, the handler was not harmed and we decided we would remove the camels from the fair,” Deam said. “It was a cold night and the camel bumped into the handler and the handler tripped. The customers were safe,” Deam added.

Deam said he raised the camel since it was a baby and it had been used at fairs for eight years, adding that he and fair officials will not offer camel rides any longer.

“I was so relieved to see that the patrons that were having a fun ride, stayed on the camel, and that the ride operator was not injured,” Coastal Carolina Fair President Harry Robbins told Live5News. “But it’s certainly alarming when you see something like that, and we just want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

“I told her that we are going to get T-shirts that say, ‘I survived the camel ride at the fair,’” Brumley told Live5News. “I’m sitting there thinking, you see on tv all the time the elephants that run off from the circus and things, and now I’m living it,” she said. “This is how this happens.”

“What if it had been my granddaughter up there, another child up there,” Brumley continued. “I don’t think we take the animal rides as seriously as we should.”

Deadly Attack in 2015

In a separate incident, a camel killed two people in Texas in January 2015, including Peggye McNair, 72, who was the owner of the farm and a well-known camel breeder, CNN reported at the time.

The male camel got into a rut and became aggressive toward Mark Mere, who was in the pen with it. The camel charged him and he tried to get out.

When McNair tried to close the gate, it ran at both of them, trampling them to death.