Man bitten by a camel in Finnmark – VG

The rutting camel Bor bit a man in his twenties in Akkarfjord in Finnmark.

The incident happened on Thursday afternoon. The man was flown to the University Hospital in northern Norway for treatment, after he was taken care of by passing neighbors.

It was iFinnmark that first mentioned the case.

– We do not have many such cases here at the hospital. The man is moderately injured, and we have been informed that the condition is stable. How long he stays in the hospital I can not say anything about, says Solveig Jacobsen, communications consultant at UNN to VG.

The camel is owned by the couple Oddveig and Øystein Sætereng, who last year became celebrities through the documentary «Camel». The couple has the Mongolian bacterial camels Bor and Bestla at home in Akkarfjord. Last year, the camel couple became parents to Little Will.

They say that what happened is very unfortunate.

– We were on a shopping trip to Hammerfest, and asked our neighbor to take care of the camels. Bor lives in Brunst and is easy to get out of the enclosure. When our neighbor tried to get Bor back in. I instructed him on what he should do and not do, says Oddveig Sætereng.

It was while the man was trying to bite his thigh. Then there was a rupture in the artery, says Øystein Sætereng.

Fortunately, two more neighbors arrived, who managed to stop the bleeding. They made a fantastic effort before the ambulance arrived, he says.

The couple managed to get home from Hammerfest before the ambulance helicopter arrived to pick up the injured man to the hospital in Tromsø

Peeing on the tail

The case has been reported to the police, and the couple has been routinely questioned by the police.

– An investigation case has been opened with the police, I can confirm that. We do not yet know what the outcome will be. We are considering connecting the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, because it is they who will assess whether the animal is dangerous to others, and not us, says operations manager Gunnar Øvergaard in Finnmark police district to VG.

– Bor is in heat, and then he is extra protective against the rest of his flock, which is mother and daughter. So one should not turn his back on him, and not go too close to him or the others. This should not have happened, but we believe that this was maximally unfortunate, says Oddveig.

– We smell that he is in heat, because he pees on his tail, and then he throws it up on his back. So he smells really like a urinal. It seems the female camel is very cool. Or, at least he thinks she thinks so, says Øystein Sætereng.