Michigan petting zoo owner brings camel to PetSmart

Here’s a camel story -- and it’s not even hump day yet.

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The owner of a Michigan petting zoo took a camel into a PetSmart on Sunday, WDIV reported.

Scott Lewis, the owner of Lewis Farms & Petting Zoo in Muskegon, took the zoo’s camel, Jeffrey, into the retail pet store outlet, a move that stunned patrons used to seeing cats and dogs walking the aisles. The one-hump camel,  caused some raised eyebrows, to say the least.

The zoo posted a video of Jeffey's adventure to its Facebook page.

Lewis said a camel trainer working with the 11-year-old dromedary needed to know Jeffrey's exact weight in order to prescribe him the proper dosages of his annual medicines and vaccines, WDIV reported.

"The trainer was helping with Jeffrey's skills on riding in the trailer so we could safely transport him to a large industrial scale to have him weighed," Jenny Ferels, the zoo's brand ambassador, told WLS.

Jeffrey weighed 1,400 pounds, the television station reported.

PetSmart's pet policy has a list of animals owners can bring to the store, but camels are not one of them, the television station reported. However, Ferels said the zoo was able to work out an arrangement with the PetSmart manager.

"We knew he loved people and thought PetSmart would be a great place to practice," Ferels told WLS. "The managers agreed and off we went."

Muskegon residents could not help but notice the large camel walking through the store, and several people took photographs with Jeffrey.

"Jeffrey loved every minute of it. He absolutely adores meeting people," Ferrel told WLS. "He's a ham."

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