I was mildly amused when one of my workmates told me the story of a dead camel on the side of the road in Sweden. 'Gosh,' we all thought, 'that is very odd. Who'd have thought that there would be camels roaming around Sweden?'

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Swedish police find camel roadkill
What is a dead camel doing on the side of a highway in Sweden?

That's what police are trying to find out after the unusual discovery yesterday.

Motorists in Sweden are accustomed to seeing elks along the roadside, but the discovery of a dead camel on the shoulder of the E22 autoroute left more than a few eyebrows raised.

So at first, the police thought it was a joke when they received reports that the carcass of a camel was spotted near Karlskrona, in southeastern Sweden.

"But when the patrol got there it turned out be completely true," said police spokesman Lars Lindwall.

Judging by its injuries, police believe the camel was being transported on a trailer, but somehow fell off and was dragged behind the vehicle. "When that was discovered they probably just dumped the body," Lindwall said. Police are treating the incident as a case of animal abuse and were searching for the camel's owner.

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But it turns out it's more common than you'd think!

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Camel roams snowy Swedish streets

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- It took some convincing before police would respond to reports of a camel on a southern Sweden road in the middle of a snowstorm.

"We were somewhat doubtful at first," said police spokesman Sten-Ove Fransson in Skoevde, 162 miles south of Stockholm, of Friday's incident. "But then more people called, so we were finally convinced that there really was a camel gone astray on the road."

Before police arrived, friends of the camel's owner came and led it back to a stable, where it has been kept while awaiting a home in a new barn.

Owner Anneli Arvidsson said in a telephone interview that the 22-year-old Siberian camel, Emat, might have wandered off because of the absence of his usual companion, a horse.

"On Friday, the horse had been taken inside the stable and the camel was left alone in the pasture, which probably made him feel lonely," she said.

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Siberian Camel? What a strange concept! I'm not sure my tiny brain can cope!

Here are some pictures of camels for your enjoyment:





-- Edited by ddvmor at 08:02, 2007-09-17