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GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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 Posted: 12/9/2003, 8:54 am Post subject: Passers-by getting bang out of Nitro |
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What's next? Goats?
From the Arizona Republic - 10/09/03
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1209babycamel.html
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Passers-by getting bang out of Nitro
Suzanne Starr/The Arizona Republic
For now, Jeannene Christ keeps Nitro the camel near her to accomodate his seven-times-a-day feeding schedule. Nitro is a playful dromedary who likes to nuzzle and take walks on the trails at Piestewa Peak.
9-week-old camel with propensity for kissing brings smiles, questions
Linda Helser
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 9, 2003 12:00 AM
It's only a mile, but it can take Jeannene Christ quite a long time to walk her pet.
That's because she has to stop to answer questions from rubbernecking passers-by and curious neighbors about the 9-week-old camel she takes for morning hikes up Piestewa Peak.
Most drivers just slam on their brakes and stare, while others want a little dialogue.
"Why do you have a camel?" Sheryl Cudney yelled out her car window one recent morning.
"He makes people smile," Christ shouted back.
Cudney, 43, had spied the unusual animal on an earlier trip to hike the peak and thought for certain she was seeing things until she saw him again.
Her passenger, however, was convinced he existed, particularly considering the upcoming holiday season.
"I thought maybe the camel was for a manger scene," said her mom, Aulgie Cudney, 63, a visitor from Indiana.
But the real reason Christ has a camel is simply because she has always wanted one.
Christ lives at the base of the central Phoenix summit and keeps the one-hump camel, whom she calls Nitro, in her back yard. To reach Piestewa Peak, all Christ has to do is walk Nitro on city sidewalks for a block or so until they reach the trailhead.
"He's usually stuck to me like glue," said Christ, who has no trouble getting the bottle-fed pet to follow her on the trail. "This is also a good way to socialize him."
The 35-year-old veterinary technician who shares her home with eight dogs, a black pig, several cockatiels and other birds, not to mention a water turtle, started working with camels six years.
"Friends of mine have a camel ranch in California," she said. "I've been a camel jockey and raced them in Germany and out at Turf Paradise. Camels can go as fast as a horse for short spurts, if they want to."
Although her house is filled with every sort of carved or stuffed plush camel imaginable, she bought her first live dromedary last summer. But the full-grown adult male, more than 7 feet 6 inches high at the hump, proved to be too much camel for her to handle.
"After I got him, I was hearing stories about how he had probably been abused," she said.
She sold him three months later and bought Nitro almost immediately for $2,500 from a camel ranch in Oklahoma.
He arrived three weeks ago, weighing 125 pounds and requiring two quarts of camel formula seven times a day.
To accommodate his feeding schedule, Christ takes him to work with her
"It's fun," said Shala Dooda, 25, a receptionist technician at Blue Cross Veterinary Clinic near 36th Street and Indian School Road. "Jeannene walks him through to the back of the clinic and people sitting the lobby can't believe it's a camel," she said. "They all want to pet him and kiss him."
And Nitro is nothing but obliging.
Standing eyeball to eyeball with most adults, he tends to lean and snuggle, delivering frequent, furry little kisses.
But Christ does not allow the doe-eyed camel to lean up against her. When full grown, at about 1,500 pounds, such behavior could prove to be dangerous. He'll also be neutered at four to six months to further curb aggressive notions.
"This is not a pet for the novice," she stressed.
Still, camels are highly intelligent, easy to train, vocal and strong.
Infamous for spitting, camels are not as prone to the behavior as llamas. "He knows the behavior but it'll have to be enforced for him to use it," Christ said. "They don't do it for fun. They have to be provoked."
Already he has been provoked plenty by Christ's pig, Miss Twiggy, a coarse-haired porker who shares the back yard.
"And my horse wants to kill him," said Christ, who boards her quarter horse near her home, which also is where Nitro will spend his days when he outgrows her grassy yard.
"When he's an adult, he'll go hiking with us and carry our camping stuff," she said. "I'll also ride him on trail rides because, although camels are much slower than horses, they can go forever."
Meanwhile, she'll try to keep him from overpruning her trees and out of her house.
"I let him in once," she said, "and boy, that was a mistake."
Reach the reporter linda.helser@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8243.
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Hikngrl
Canyoneering is my 'Happy Place'
Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 5578
Location: Peoria, AZ
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| Posted: 12/9/2003, 9:09 am Post subject: |
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I saw this guy last week when Sheri and I went over to to do the circumference trail! I thought I was seeing things at first till I confirmed with Sheri that she too has seen him... He is so cute!
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~~~Diane~~~
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roger
Joined: 13 Aug 2003
Posts: 262
Location: phoenix
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| Posted: 12/9/2003, 9:14 am Post subject: Nitro |
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I live about 5 houses down from Nitro and have taken my 6 year old daughter over to see him. Nitro is a very friendly "little" baby camel who will let you pet him and loves attention. The last time we saw him, as we started to leave we had to walk adjacent to the back yard and Nitro followed us as if he wanted to go on a hike.
Next time you drive into the Squaw Peak Park keep an eye out for Nitro.
Roger |
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Daryl
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1168
Location: Everett, Washington
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| Posted: 12/9/2003, 10:57 am Post subject: |
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Now that it has made the news, how long will it be before some jerk pulls out some dusty city code that says certain animals are not allowed in city parks and/or on city streets? I hope it doesn't happen.
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plummer150
Joined: 04 Jan 2003
Posts: 542
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
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| Posted: 12/9/2003, 11:13 am Post subject: re: |
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Hmm.....very interesting.
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Hikngrl
Canyoneering is my 'Happy Place'
Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 5578
Location: Peoria, AZ
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| Posted: 12/9/2003, 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah Daryl, I was thinking the same thing.....
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~~~Diane~~~
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sherileeaz
Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 874
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| Posted: 12/9/2003, 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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YES I did see the camel, and in my logical moment (which these are far and few between) I said that it probably was there because it was in a live Nativity program for Christmas. OHHHH silly me, enough of logical thougths ey!!
Daryl, I agree with your statement and in this case, hope it doesn't happen either. These are the fun times in life! Camels as pets!
Roger, we will WAVE next time we pass your house and wave to Nitro too!!
BTW, a friend of mine who was in Saudi sent me a picture (which I wish I still had) where the camels are in trucks and cars just as if they were dogs! Amuzing to see.
Sherileeaz  |
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