As Mayhem, a young Bactrian camel, sheds his shaggy coat, he is getting a lot of attention
Alysha Bartlett has been interested in camels for as long as she can remember.
Since she grew up in a family that raised Arabian horses, she always thought the two went together. Even a camel saddle and art about camels were in her family’s house.
But her dream of owning one of the animals didn’t come true until she met her current partner.
Bartlett said of her partner Alex Schlosser, “He got what interested me.”
“He said, ‘One day I’m gonna get you a camel.’ “Oh, that’s great, honey,” I said.
He never went back on his promise.
In March 2022, the couple and Bartlett’s 14-year-old son Kye McGreal moved to the North Okanagan region of British Columbia. Once they moved to their new property in Lavington, which was about 64 km north of Kelowna and east of Vernon, B.C., they got horses.
Then, Bartlett’s partner told her to contact a couple they had seen selling a camel on Facebook Marketplace while they were in Alberta earlier this year.
She said, “They were kind enough to invite us to their house, and the rest is kind of history.”
WATCH | Mayhem the Bactrian camel says hello:
Bartlett and her partner fell in love with a white Bactrian camel named Mayhem who was eight months old. A week later, they brought Mayhem home. Bartlett says she did her own research and talked to the breeders about how to raise and care for camels.
She said, “They’ve been so helpful, giving us all the tips and tricks.”
The government of B.C. has rules about buying and selling some exotic animals, but camels are not on the list of “Controlled Alien Species.”
Bartlett wouldn’t say how much Mayhem cost, but she did say that he was “expensive” and that she couldn’t have paid for him by herself.
“I’m as happy as I could be. “He makes us happy in so many ways,” she said.
Shedding shaggy coa
Bartlett said that people have been taking care of camels for thousands of years, and that the camels have a strong bond with their owners.
The Toronto Zoo says that Bactrian camels have long, thick, shaggy coats that they get rid of when it gets warmer. The species comes from the deserts of Central Asia north of the Himalayas, and it can live in temperatures from –29 C to 38 C.
Bartlett said that Mayhem, who has two humps and is expected to live to be 40, has been shedding his shaggy coat.
“You don’t shear it like a sheep, because his skin will burn. “So it takes about a month for all this thick, dense fur to come off,” she said.
Some people who have stopped on the highway near her house to look at the 1,000-pound animal have been worried by how ragged it looks. Bartlett says she’s had to explain that it’s normal and that he’s in good care.
Bartlett said that, other than that, Mayhem has been a big draw in the area. On Mother’s Day, she and her family let people into their home for two hours, and she said that about 100 people stopped by.
Bartlett says that the goats and dogs on the ranch have gotten used to Mayhem, but the horses are still getting used to him. Horses usually don’t like things that are bigger than them.
Lock-picking lip
According to the San Diego Zoo, camels are good at finding food in harsh environments thanks to their tough, split upper lip, with each half able to move independently.
On Bartlett’s property, Mayhem uses his lips to try to unlock gates.
“All our gates have double locks because he’ll spend all day trying to unlock them to come join you,” Bartlett said.
Looking ahead, Bartlett says she hopes to partner with others to offer educational opportunities related to camels. But because Mayhem won’t be fully matured until he’s seven years old, she isn’t in a rush.
“He’s still getting used to the world,” she said.