The Florida woman who entered a camel enclosure at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete last month spoke out for the first time today to The Advocate about the experience.
Gloria Lancaster, 68, from around Pensecola, told the paper that she suffered broken bones and "had to have her lungs drained of blood" after the camel, which weighed 600 pounds, knocked her over and sat on top of her.
Lancaster said her injuries "will require months of physical therapy and medical treatment," but she doesn't blame the camel.
The woman recounted the experience on Wednesday, explaining that after the camel sat on her, she told her husband to get their dog, a deaf Japanese Chin that weighs less than 10 pounds, and "get out." Lancaster said that her "whole body's crushing. I felt it. I could hear it."
Lancaster explained that her hands were pinned, and she bit what she could to get the camel to move.
"It was his testicles, and I bit them and he got off of me. And I would do it again."
Lancaster was brought to a Baton Rouge hospital where she was treated for injuries to her abdomen, neck, shoulder, arm, and head. She continued to receive medical treatment after she returned to Florida for broken ribs and collar bone.
She said she believes both she and the truck stop were to blame. Herself because she entered the pen in the first place, and the truck stop because it hadn't taken precautions to prevent entry to the enclosure.
The Advocate reports that a veterinarian checked on the camel, named Caspar, and prescribed it antibiotics just to be safe, but Caspar appeared to be in good health.
Read The Advocate's full story here.
