WICHITA FALLS, Texas, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The owner of a camel farm in Texas was killed along with another person after a deadly camel attack Saturday.
Wichita County Sheriff David Duke found the bodies of Peggye McNair, 72, and Mark Mere, 53, at 2:30 p.m. at the Camel Kisses Camel Farm in Wichita Falls, Texas. McNair was the farm's owner and a well-known camel breeder.
Duke told KFDX that Mere had entered a pen with three camels to attend to a frozen water trough, but an aggressive male among the animals began charging him. Mere attempted to escape the pen, and the camel attacked as McNair tried to close the pen gate. The camel trampled McNair and Mere, killing both.
All three camels, two females and a male, acted aggressively toward arriving deputies. The male camel was said to be in a "rut," a period of sexual aggressiveness that occurs in breeding seasons.
McNair's family gave game wardens permission to euthanize the animal responsible for her death, Duke said.
Fatal camel attacks on humans are not unheard of. In Oct. 2014 a camel escaped its pen and killed the owner of a wildlife park in Mexico.
