“Oh my god, that is crazy,” said Sinclair Lundy of Hattiesburg, who saw the video on Facebook. “What the hell! That’s a great stunt for Chick-fil-A.”
While Chick-fil-A might have gotten a lot of publicity out of the camel’s visit on Monday, it was not the promoter of Thelma’s guest appearance. The owners of Triple R Farms hired a camel trainer from Oklahoma to work with Thelma and jokingly said they had a goal of training her to go to the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A, so that’s exactly what the trainer did.
The camel caused a lot of laughter at the drive-thru with several people scrambling for their phones to take pictures and videos of the novelty.
Attempts to reach Chic-fil-A and Triple R Farms for comment were unsuccessful.
On Sunday, the camel, named Thelma, took a tour of Tractor Supply Co. on U.S. 49, much to the delight of customers there.
“I was in here talking to a family and the lady was talking with lifted up her glasses like she was seeing something and I looked around and there was this big camel right behind me,” said Jenna Davies, who is in her second round of employment at TSC. Davies said she loves her job, but took a break to finish school.
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It wasn’t the first time a camel visited the store, Davies said. She has seen everything from puppies to goats to monkeys that are brought in by their owners.
The camel was at the store for some socialization, Davies said, which it got plenty of thanks to some of the children who happened to be in the store with their parents.
“Things like that happen a lot,” Davies said. “It’s always a joy for us working here and a joy for customers in our area. I love stuff like that.”
Some of the children had never seen a camel up close before, so they enjoyed Thelma’s visit, too.
“What was very interesting was the cleanup after the camel,” she said. “Thank goodness we have concrete floors.”
The camel lives at Triple R Farms in Hattiesburg, one of a pair of Bactrian camels. The other is named Louise, according to a Triple R Facebook post.
Triple R Farms is located on Ralph Rawls Road in Hattiesburg. Foir more information, visit facebook.com/TripleRHattiesburg.
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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Camel visits MS Chick-fil-A, Tractor Supply