Camels in the Neighborhood

John and I were recently on an excursion to the shoppette to get the Baby Dog some Baskin Robbins ice cream :) and was surprised to see one of our neighbors had built a make-shift pen for a baby camel. Of course, I whipped out the little pocket camera to get a photo of this. As neighborhoods go, one doesn't get to see a camel in the midst very often. I have learned after living here the last six months that barnyard animals are quite common place in some of the older neighborhoods.

The next day we noticed two camels in the pen. Now our curiosity was really up. We both speculated that the camels were for slaughter. After asking a few people about it, I found out that maybe the camels were not on their way to the slaughterhouse (which was sited as a real possibility) and the deep freeze. Some residents of the city have camel farms out in the desert. So, it is possible our neighbor bought the young camels at an auction over a couple of days and penned them up temporarily before transporting to the farm outside the city. Of course, it could still be they were awaiting slaughter. I opted for the camel auction theory as they look like the Majhim camels that are highly favored among breeders. I liked that idea better.

Day Three the camels and the make-shift pen were gone!