Runaway camel that injured man escaped twice before capture

A wayward camel that escaped an Acton property and injured a man freed itself twice Friday morning before it was finally corralled, sheriff’s officials said.

A call reporting that a “vicious camel was attacking people” in the 500 block of East Soldedad Pass Road came in at 8:38 a.m., said Lt. Darren Harris of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Palmdale Station.

Neighbors had managed to tie up the camel and return it to its property, but it managed to free itself again while deputies and fire officials were present, Harris said.

Authorities used patrol cars and fire engines to try to block the path of the animal, which ran about a quarter of a mile from the caretaker’s property, he said.

The camel then approached the owner of an adjacent property who was standing on the other side of a fence, he said. She was “able to calm it” and lead it into a horse corral on her property, Harris said.

The camel bit the head of a neighbor trying to help rein it in, Harris said.

That man’s daughter, Skylar Dossenbach, told KTLA-TV the camel bit him, knocked him to the ground and stomped on him.

“He needs a bunch of stitches on his head,” Dossenbach said. “He’s got a wide gash on his head.”

The camel, a male, is in the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control, said Betsey Webster, the department’s chief deputy director. The camel, which is being held in a corral at a department facility in Lancaster, will be examined by an equine veterinarian, Webster said.

“He looks good,” Webster said. “He’s moving around, but obviously we want to see what a veterinarian has to say.”

The county is investigating the animal’s breakout, Webster said. The department has been trying to reach the owner of the property but has been unable to do so, she said.

“The person who is alleged to be the owner does not have a permit” for the camel, she said.

hailey.branson@latimes.com

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