The death of a camel

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Rajah died this week at Heifer Ranch in central Arkansas.
Shalom, old camel.
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(Photo from Dave Lowe's album. ;-) Dave is the one on the left.)
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Some of us ranch hands used to call this camel Gillette Foamy.

Male Dromedaries have a soft palate which they inflate to produce a pink sack.

This doula, as it is called in Arabic, hangs out of the side of their mouth -- some say -- to attract females during the mating season.

Well, Rajah was making the blub-blub-blub sound with his slobbering doula in every season.

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It was always a race to see if I could drive the Livestock pickup truck to his feed box on the fence and dump the feed before he raced over and spewed his foam on my hat. Feh!
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(Photo by Rena Olsen)

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Then one day in the late 1990s someone, a certain G.J., had the bad idea to pasture a donkey with Raja and Gobi (the female camel).

I came to the paddock and discovered this just ten minutes before I needed to catch the donkey (put on a halter and lead rope) and bring her to my workcamper group for a "cut and carry" forage project.

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I had no choice but to enter the big pasture and grab the donkey.

Oh no! For a few terrifying minutes that huge anti-social camel was grunting fearful noises while he danced a circle around me bobbing his head up and down!

I released the donkey and backed off, feigning courage to my opponent.

That gate seemed so far away.

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Maybe that is why mine is the only minority opinion in the 41 (!) comments that Dave received on his Facebook announcement of Rajah's death. Everyone else says they will miss that camel.

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Well, in death may Rajah rest in peace. He certainly never rested much in life.

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P.S. I worked full-time at Heifer Ranch from 1996 to 2002. I lived there in community and worked and learned as a volunteer. You can too!

The Ranch is a learning center of Heifer International, an organization that gives livestock and training to folks in need around the globe.

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This post is for Camera-Critters Sunday meme.