Hunting Camels was illegal!

In 1855 Jefferson Davis, the secretary of war, convinced the U.S. Army to import herds of camels from the Middle East as a means of transporting freight and men. Everyone loved the camels! Crowds of adoring fans would gather wherever they went.

They were also able to withstand the desert heat while carrying two to three times as much as traditional Army mules. Unfortunately, the Civil War brought the Army’s experiment to an end. The remaining camels either escaped into the wild or were sold, at which point camel hunting was declared illegal.

Photo provided by Shukhrat Umarov