Camel kills woman in Florida

[Donna]

Sunday down in Wewahichika, Florida a woman was kicked then sat on by her newly purchased 4 year old Dromedary bull. She died from suffacation. Her name was Cathy Ake, and her and her husband owned a petting zoo. They got "Polo" the camel at an auction just a couple of weeks earlier. The bull was in rut, and will be back up for sale soon.

Let's all please remember how powerful these animals are, respect the bulls no matter HOW gentle they seem! And if you don't plan on breeding, DON'T have a bull for a pet! GELD them early!

[I love Gobi]

That's good advice. I wonder if they got him at the Lolli Brothers auction?

[Donna]

I am not sure, I wonder if it was a sale in Florida. I've heard of an exotic auction down there in the past. It's just SO sad! I have a second farm down there, about an hour away from that little town she lived in, so it was all over the news in great detail.

[Cameleer]

CITRA - A bull camel that crushed its owner to death last month traveled to an exotic animal sale in Tennessee this weekend.

The deceased woman's husband asked animal trainer Tim Rivers to transport the camel to the sale in order to find another home for it.

Rivers, who owns Animals in Motion, an exotic animal training facility in Citra, plans to let interested buyers know that the animal killed its owner and should be used only for breeding purposes.

According to an article in The News-Herald in Panama City, Cathie Ake, co-owner of Mini-Akers Exotic Animals in Wewahitchka, died when the 1,800-pound camel kicked her and sat on her. Ake's husband, Donnie, believed the animal may have been agitated by mating season, the news report stated.

Captive wildlife can be unpredictable, especially bull males, said Rivers, who had turned down an offer to purchase the same camel a couple years ago.

"He was a bull. I did not need a bull," said Rivers, who trains animals for films, TV and commercials.

"I wouldn't even think of taking him on a movie set," he said. "He was a handle-able bull, but I wouldn't take him out in public and use him for anything like that. Anytime you've got a breeder bull, they're not trustworthy."

At Animals in Motion, all the male animals are gelded, except for one 15-year-old camel that is kept separated from the others. All the animals at the facility are trained for film work from the time they are babies, said Rivers' wife, Patty.

"We're not supposed to work anything alone," she said. "We always have a backup person. We know that all of them are wild animals and we respect them, and we know that they can change any second, so we're prepared for anything they can do. And, we don't use bulls around the public or on movie sets."

Rivers does most of his film work through Birds and Animals Unlimited, a provider of animal talent for films, TV and commercials for more than 40 years. Jennifer Henderson, East Coast operations manager, said the organization hires Rivers because he takes precautions and works well with his animals.

"When we walk on a movie set, everything has to be 100 percent safe," Henderson said. "Every time that you're on the set with one of these animals, the ticker is ticking with the amount of money that's being spent. Tim and Patty have so much experience, because they've been in the business for a long, long, time.

"It's very simple when you hire something from them. You're getting a professional and an animal, and the animal is prepared to go into that kind of an environment."

Because camels historically have been designated as domesticated, the incident with the camel did not fall under the regulation of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

However, Joy Hill, public information officer, pointed out that the behavior of animals can change when they come into maturity.

"They can always be unpredictable, no matter how much experience you have," Hill said. "Accidents can always happen. That is one of the challenges that people who work with these animals face. Anytime you work around animals there is a risk. Even though something like a camel might be a gentle animal most of the year, accidents can happen, even to the most experienced handlers."

Anytime you work around animals there is a risk. Even though something like a camel might be a gentle animal most of the year, accidents can happen, even to the most experienced handlers.
"

[Donna]

I'm glad you posted that article, I was worried he was going to be sold with no one knowing what he had done. At least the new owners were warned. The Akes purchased the camel through Bill McConnell's sale down in Bushnell, FL. He told me that after this happened, the husband wanted to run the camel BACK through his sale, he said he refused to do so. That is apparently when they took him on to the TN sale.

[jdfla1234]

Donna

Im not sure where you got your information for your post of 5/13.
I will be happy to set the record straight.
1. The people buying the Camel were not warned of anything.
2. The Camel in question attacked Bill McConnell in his own ring which suprised many people who knew of Bills experience with camels. His claim to a reporter from the Panama City Herald who did the story on Mrs AKE was that he had no experience. An article from the St Petersburg times also confirmed it as well as some video and pictures from a person who knew the McConnells.
3. Bill McConnell knew the age of the camel and tried to pass it off as much younger.
4. The camel had been aggressive all day at the auction and should have been withdrawn.
5. McConnell in an email claimed that Mrs AKE was showing off when in fact it has been confirmed by people at the scene that she wasnt.
6. McConnell claimed that the camel had been returned because the previous owners wrote a bad check. This is totally false and he is being sued for Slander and Defamation as we speak. The camel had been returned because it was aggressive and had broken out of its holding area.
7. McConnell was thrown out of Hernando County Fairgrounds because of his animals condition and not being licensed.
8. There is information from a former employee of McConnell that he is being investigated for transport and selling exotic animals to unlicensed people.
9. At his last auction a man was injured trying to assist an animal that was trapped in a pen that was too small.
10. He claims to have sold his auction to another individual who is actually his partner.

This guy is a total fraud and if you ask around the answer seems to point true.

Have a nice day

:(

[Donna]

The plot thickens....I was recently told that McConnell actually OWNED that camel himself for at least 2 years pryor to him selling it through his own sale to Cathy Ake, and McConnell knew how aggressive he was.

(oh, btw, I didn't mean that the "Ake's" were for warned of the camels behavior, but in fact the new owners that were going to purchase him through the TN. sale by Bill Rivers.)