Sept 17, 2010: Sinking Camel

[xoxoxoBruce]

Moses is a Bactrian camel, that's a double humper, who lives another camel, goats, sheep, chickens, a couple humans and a pot bellied pig named Sonny, out in Oregon. Moses got himself stuck in a sinkhole and his farm mates couldn't get him out, so the called Clackamas County firefighters, who have rescued just about every kind of critter... except a camel.

But the hole was in rough terrain. And it was dark. Fire officials decided they couldn't safely use heavy equipment to extricate Moses. They'd have to use their hands. The firefighters dug around Moses – who continued to voice his distress – so they could slip thick straps under the animal's belly and pull him out. It was tricky work that took hours, said firefighter Steve McAdoo, who help light the work area with a flashlight.
The firefighters – and the Dilworths – worried Moses had broken a leg.
"The problem is the legs on this animal are like 4 or 5 feet long and he is down in the hole and his legs have sunk into the hole," McAdoo said. "They are thin. They are like little sticks and they are all the way into the mud.
"It was hard work lifting and digging, lifting and digging," he said.

But they did it, and everyone lived happily ever after... so far.

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