A Christmas nativity scene stopped traffic on Friday when three fully-grown camels escaped a Queensland church and wandered down the highway. I’ve heard of the three wise men, but I simply did not expect to hear about three rogue camels this festive season.
As of yet, there’s no word if they were carrying gold, frankincense and myrrh.
According to The Courier Mail the even-toed ungulates escaped Bridgeman Baptist Church in north Brisbane. They were then spotted walking alongside traffic on Albany Creek Road at 9am. An eventful morning for both the creatures and commuters I’m sure.
In case you were worried about the camels’ fate, the church confirmed in a Facebook post that they were fine.
“Our camels got a bit lost on the way to Bethlehem! Gladly they’re back safe and sound now,” it said.
In footage, the camels can be seen serenely strolling down the highway, presumably looking for a couple called Mary and Joseph.
Camels have been spotted escaping a nativity scene in North Brisbane earlier today. @6NewsAU pic.twitter.com/Bu5cV2rUxs
— Roman Mackinnon (@RomanMackinnon6) December 16, 2022
The whole situation is absolutely giving “scrapped Love Actually B-Plot“. I would have loved to see three camels escape the set of Bill Nighy‘s Christmas music video.
The camels’ owner Melanie Fitzgibbon told The Daily Mail it took around half an hour to get the humped, hoof-y hooligans back.
Fitzgibbon explained they went missing after she and her husband fed them breakfast.
“My husband said he’d take them for a walk and when he went to check on them they’d opened the gate,” she said.
“They were on foot just a bit further ahead of us. We knew where they were, it was just a matter of catching up with them — they’re quick travellers.”
This feels like a festive Madagascar short frankly.
But bizarrely, the Christmas escape was not the only camel news of the week.
In a much sadder turn of events, a baby camel was allegedly stolen from a Victorian sanctuary on Thursday. I’ve heard of cat burglars but baby camel thief is simply too far.
The camel went missing from the For the Love of Camels Sanctuary in Ardmona, rural Victoria. The sanctuary posted a call out for information to its Facebook page.
“Can everyone keep an eye out for a baby camel if local or keep an eye out for any orphan camels being sold of a similar age, she’s only almost six weeks old,” it said.
“Mummy is absolutely devastated”.
In the post, the sanctuary explained the camels are actually highly emotional animals. So a bub going missing could have a really significant impact on the mummy camel.
“[Camels] can die from post-natal depression and the pain from losing her baby,” it said.
“This could very easily kill mum.”
I am absolutely manifesting all missing camels are returned to their parents for a proper Christmas miracle.
