ALPINE — It may take a village to raise a child, but the Jones family of Alpine has recently discovered that it takes a neighborhood to raise a camel.
When they were surprised by the birth of a baby camel in late May and the camel needed special attention and round-the-clock feedings, all the neighbors rallied. "It's really been a community effort," says Patti Jones.
Patti and Will Jones have had Max and Margaret, a male and female camel, for about five years. But they had not realized Margaret was pregnant until Will went out to do routine chores — and saw the baby being born.
They'd had Margaret checked by the vet last fall. Camels have a 13-month gestation period, and Margaret would have been halfway through, but the vet had not detected a heartbeat or any other signs of a pregnancy. "So the baby was a complete surprise," says Patti. "Since then, we've been learning more than we ever wanted to know about baby camels," she adds with a laugh.
For one thing, camels have a 50 percent mortality rate, so it's very touch and go. And Mazey, as they named the youngster, had trouble nursing and was very weak.
Luckily, Patti says, their vet, Charmian Wright, who is based in Park City, has had experience with camels, even owning several at one time.
The Joneses found a place to get goat's milk to feed Mazey, and they had to get cow colostrum to add to it for nutrition. For the first few days, they had to feed or medicate Mazey every hour. They fixed up a fenced enclosure in the barn, and Curry, their son who has done a lot of work with the camels, slept on bales of hay by the camels for the first few nights. Mazey also needed penicillin and other medications and I.V. fluids.
For the first week, says Patti, the most anyone got was five hours of sleep at any one time. But taking care of Mazey while also keeping Margaret away was definitely more than a one-person job. Mazey would not take a bottle; they had to put a tube down her throat so food would go into her esophagus and not her lungs.
The neighbors started showing up to help. Charlie Fox ("we call him the 'camel whisperer'; he has a real touch," says Patti), Don Watkins, Russ McKinley, Scott Marlin and Kent Durrant, all with neighboring farms, took turns helping with Mazey. Every feeding or medicating time, someone was there to help.
Mazey also needed a blood transfusion. They had to take blood from the mother, "then we had to find a place to have it spinned and separated, so we could give it to Mazey." The problem was, Mazey was born on a Saturday night, and that was on Sunday. "Everything was closed. We thought of BYU and the Red Cross, but they were closed. Finally, we called St. Mark's in Salt Lake City, and they were happy to do it for us. So the neighbors ran it up there, too."
Mazey weighed 74 pounds at birth. After the first week, she was able to nurse. "She's grown, got a lot stronger and a lot more curious," says Patti. "From here on out, she'll grow about a half-pound to a pound a day. But she was so fragile."
"She looked like an ostrich at first," says McKell Kirkham, a daughter who has also been involved in the care. "Or maybe like an alien — like E.T."
Max, Margaret and Mazey are dromedary camels, known for their one hump (Bactrain camels have two humps), and they do very well in this area, although they are still quite rare.
"We got them from Ohio," explains Patti. There are several large camel herds in the Midwest, and they had seen a camel once on a trip to Pennsylvania, giving rides in a parking lot. It looked like a lot of fun.
"We're not real farmers," says Patti. Will works in real estate, and they have a farm on the side. "We have cows and chickens and some peacocks. We had a friend who was getting some llamas. He asked us if we wanted any, and we said, 'No, get us a camel,' just kind of joking. And then he showed up with two camels! They were about a year old at the time. So, it's been fun, but it's been a learning experience."
They hope to have the parent camels trained to give rides at the annual Alpine Days celebration this summer. But, says Curry, "they really keep us busy during the Christmas season. They participate in live nativity scenes every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We're already starting to get bookings."
He also takes them to elementary schools. "When kids are learning the alphabet, we come on C-for-camel day."
It has been fun to dispel some of the myths about camels, he says. "For one thing, the hump is not used to store water. It's actually made of fat deposits." That fat means they can go for long periods without food, and because they also don't need much water, camels have been used for centuries in desert countries. In fact, while there are still a few wild camels found in parts of Asia and Australia, most of the world's camel population is domesticated.
Camels eat grass hay (no alfalfa, please) and they chew cuds just like cows. Dromedary camels don't spit, he says.
Curry also enjoys taking Max or Margaret on walks through the neighborhood. The camel will lie down in a neighbor's yard while everyone comes to greet it, then it gets up and goes on to the next one.
"They have distinct personalities," says Patti. "Max is very friendly. He loves people and loves to be petted. Margaret has a bit of an attitude. She's a little haughty, like she knows better than the rest of us. It will be interesting to see what Mazey is like."
But it's that oddness, that uniqueness that makes them so fascinating, says Curry. "It's been fun to watch people's reaction." After all, not every neighborhood can boast a camel.
E-MAIL: carma@desnews.com