Camel is looking for more snacks, tries to eat a baby

[davidpdx]

No trolling, seriously. The clip is of a family in one of those drive through safaris and they stop and the dad has his daughter in his lap and she is feeding the camel when.....

[TDale313]

1. Aww, very cute.

The little girl has the best laugh

[backscatter712]

2. Looks like we atheists have some competition! n/t

[TwilightGardener]

3. That was pretty funny. I especially liked the part where the camel tried to run

with the car.

[davidpdx]

6. Then the camel proceeded to stop and do its business

What a showboat!

[BainsBane]

4. The next Kit Kat commercial

[davidpdx]

5. I bet the camel would eat anything it was fed

Though I'd think chocolate would not be good for its digestive system.

[BainsBane]

8. No, and people should know better

than to feed it junk food. If he eats that from a bunch of cars every day he won't live long.

[davidpdx]

9. I'm sure they have signs up telling people that they have to buy a particular food

It looks like what they were giving "him" was some kind of camel treat they bought.

[DevonRex]

7. We all laughed!!

Her laugh is contagious. And the camel was cute, too, running next to the car.

[LeftofObama]

10. That little girl is adorable!

Most of the kids I know would have been screaming and crying if a camel stuck his head in the window.

[ZombieHorde]

11. Zombies come in all shapes and colors.

We're the most liberal of the undead.

[yellowcanine]

12. Sorry to party poop but that is damn stupid.

That dad exposed his little girl to risk of serious injury. Riding a kid on your lap is highly risky - if the car had collided with the camel she could have been ejected through the open side window and killed. The camel also could have bit the girl and seriously injured her. I am sorry, but putting kids at risk is not worth the entertainment value.

[lapislzi]

13. Safaris.

I usually hate replies like the one I'm about to make. Sorry to be the threadjoykiller here.

Driving safaris can be a wonderful way to experience wildlife. That being said, the operative word is WILD life.

There's not enough context in this video to know what kind of "safari" this family was on. Was it a small wildlife park or a much larger, sprawling national park? Regardless, all safari parks have signposted information about remaining in your vehicle and experiencing the wildlife safely.

I ask this because it makes a difference to the habituation of the animals inside. Animals that experience humans routinely, daily, are much more likely to interact and be aggressive because they experience being fed more often. Animals that become a nuisance around humans are usually destroyed.

Attempting to feed any wild animal out of your car window is a terrible idea. Every safari park I've ever been to is very strict in its feeding policy. No feeding of the animals outside designated feeding areas or petting zoos. In large national parks like Kruger Park in South Africa, this is a matter of life and death. The penalties for even lowering your window to photograph an animal, are severe if you are caught by park authorities. Or, they can be deadly. Any animal can be aggressive and unpredictable.

And, why is the child not in a car seat? This is an unsafe scenario in every sense of the word. The family should be ejected from the park and sternly lectured about safety around wild animals.

Bad for humans, bad for animals. In Kruger, this would be on the Wall of Shame. (Except there are no camels in Kruger).

[Raven]

14. Boy! I agree. That could have ended up a

tragedy. That little girl could have lost a few fingers not to mention her life.

[yellowcanine]

15. The dad should be cited for child endangerment.NT

[lapislzi]

18. We took a very hard line on this in Kruger.

(I was romantically involved with a park ranger in my "Out of Africa" youth).

Idiots who disregarded signs or spoken instructions were summarily ejected from the park, reservations cancelled, visiting privileges revoked in perpetuity. This was for the safety of the animals and other visitors.

You cannot believe some of the dumb stuff people do. People: it is not a "nice kitty." It is a leopard in a tree and it thinks you want its food. What do you think it's going to do? Buffalo may look big and stupid. They are also fast and have nasty horns.

There are ways to safely interact with wildlife in a more intimate setting: with a trained game ranger, on a guided drive or walk. Rangers are always accompanied by a spotter, and both are armed. You never know when shit's going to happen, from a black mamba slithering across your path, to a rhino charging because you inadvertently drove your Land Rover between her and her calf.

Don't fuck with the animals.

[LondonReign2]

30. This is not a wild safari

If it were I would agree with you, but these aren't African reserves like Kruger. They are domestic, several mile paved loops that you drive around and feed the animals by hand -- and they are feed by hand all day every day.

http://www.wildliferanchtexas.com/
http://www.fossilrim.org/drive.php

About the most "dangerous" animals are the ostriches which will stick their head through the window to snatch your whole bag of food if you are not careful. The danger lies in then having your children cry and having to return to the start to buy more food.

[lapislzi]

33. Ever get pecked by an ostrich?

I don't recommend it.

I think the idea of lay humans (as opposed to trained personnel) feeding habituated wild animals is foolish at best, dangerous at worst.

The risk increases with the size of the animal...and increases as the intelligence level of the animal decreases. Therefore, supervised feeding of a dolphin (say) is much safer than unsupervised feeding of an ostrich, or a camel.

I have been molested by baboons (while in my car, no harm done), had my snacks stolen (in a fenced "safe" picnic area) by monkeys, ostriches, and other birds, chased by elephants (in car!), pecked and bitten by penguins (during an oil spill cleanup).

That being said, some of my most rewarding memories include swimming with dolphins (in enclosure) and giving a bottle to an orphaned cheetah cub (professional standing by).

I have a healthy respect for wild and semi-wild critters. And, I'm not wild (see what I did there?) about those faux safari parks.

[LondonReign2]

34. I understand

The point is criticizing these parents as if they just left their child on the open safari in the middle of a pack of hungry lions is overboard.

These animals, while I am sure are still unpredictable to some degree, get feed by hand constantly. I would bet you run a far greater risk of getting nipped by a dog than by any of these herbivores.

[lapislzi]

35. Be cautious around any animal you don't know personally.

The problem with the habituated wild animals is that they're not fully domesticated. Domestication usually only follows generations of selective breeding. What you have in these safari parks is wild animals who associate humans with food. If they don't get food when they expect it, they can be nasty.

In a national park setting, you're actually safer, because trying to feed the animals is a ticket out of the park (and yes, the regular park patrons act as volunteer rangers and will rat you out). The human-animal habituation is generally limited to humans gawking at the animals from their cars. (Except in the case of the very, very stupid--and I have witnessed same).

[Erose999]

16. Back in my day, the camels just tried to get babies to smoke cigraettes.

[WinkyDink]

17. First a moose; now a camel. WTH is wrong with people who don't know what "WILD" means?

[Ikonoklast]

19. I'm not sure, but that baby looked domesticated to me.

Now Free Range Babies, look out.

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. Best post on DU ever. EVER.

[LondonReign2]

31. These are not wild animals

See post 30

[Quantess]

21. DUMB people! Irresponsible.

How about the young mom who climbed into a bobcat pen with her small son to pet the kitty? She was arrested for child endangerment.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. This is not cute

This is dangerous...on multiple levels

[Brickbat]

23. I have to admit I was impressed with the way the parents didn't freak out when the camel mouthed the

kid. So many do nowadays, like their kids are made of sugar and they'll melt when a camel drools on them.

Driving with a kid in the driver's lap isn't ideal because of the airbag issue, but the way people are jumping all over these parents is overblown.

DANGER!

[lapislzi]

24. Sorry, no.

Any animal with teeth can bite. The animal just wants the food. You're an obstacle to that objective.

Those are stupid, stupid people who have needlessly endangered their child. Drool is one thing. Nasty chewing ruminant teeth--ugh! You do not want a ruminant gnawing on your child.

My daughter and I were attacked by baboons while we were in our car in a supposedly "safe" area of Cape Point. We had heeded the signs and had not carried food into the area. The people in the next car--not so much.

Don't fuck with wild animals.

[Brickbat]

25. Believe me, I know where you're coming from.

I'm the one who on dog threads says "any dog can bite at any time for any reason."

Calling these parents "stupid, stupid people who have needlessly endangered their child" could apply to anyone who lets their toddler cuddle with a dog. You don't want canine teeth gnawing on your child, either. Life is a series of calculated risks, and these parents got a pretty good payoff for theirs.

[lapislzi]

28. Agreed...calculated risks

One can usually better assess a risk posed by a leashed dog, for example, by asking its owner if it's friendly. That's no guarantee that it won't bite you, but you stand a better chance of not being bitten, the more information you have.

In the case of camel, what do we know? Camels in general? Maybe a little. As I understand it, they're not known for their friendliness. This camel, specifically? Nothing at all.

If I were the parent, I would most definitely err on the side of caution.

I might be less cautious with, say, a friend's dog, if the friend says it's OK to approach. A strange dog? I'd be very cautious. Not crazy fearful, but cautious.

There are not many circumstances under which I would approach a wild animal of any species. I've had to remove them from my home on occasion, and I'm always very careful to cover up and use gloves. It's just common sense.

[LibertyLover]

26. They're lucky the camel didn't spit at them -

there is very little that can compare to camel spit.

[undeterred]

27. Cute video, but they were really lucky the girl didn't get hurt.

It could have grabbed her or bitten her very easily.

[Whiskeytide]

29. Good thing it wasn't a moose!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2775666

[Myrina]

32. Sure it's cute cuz it has a happy ending ...

... had the camel hurt the kid, no doubt it would have been 'humanely euthanized', even though it's the parents' fault the kid was in harm's way.

[Enrique]

36. kids and camels

always good for a smile