Camel stuns residents by taking casual stroll through UK housing estate

21 December 2023 , 13:42

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A camel was spotted strolling across a residential street in East London (Image: Getty Images)

Locals were left stunned after they spotted a camel being walked through a housing estate in London.

The bizarre scenes were reportedly captured in Chingford, East London, and showed a woman with blonde hair carefully guiding it on the pavement. Residents in the area could be seen pulling startled faces as they watched on from their bedroom windows.

Social media users were left baffled by the sighting (@UB1UB2/Twitter)

The camel was said to be spotted in Chingford (@UB1UB2/Twitter)

One woman, who filmed the bizarre scenes said: “I’m seeing too much weird stuff today. What is going on?” A girl positioned next to her could be heard proving her point and said: “See, I told you it was a camel.” The woman responded in disbelief and added: “Listen, this little girl told me there was a camel outside. I thought she was lying. Good way to avoid Ulez." In response, the video amassed hundreds of thousands of views online, which prompted jokes between social media users. One person wrote: “It’s Uber’s new XL vehicle, very popular in London, beats the traffic.

Someone else chimed in: “Good way to avoid the Ulez charge." Another person on Twitter, named Albie, said the random camel walk has happened annually in the area. “It happened in Chingford. They march it down the road most years with a few wise men and that. Don’t ask me where they get it from," they claimed. Other users suggested that the camel could be part of Christmas celebrations locally.

Under guidance from the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976, members of the public have to request a licence from their local council to own a camel. The animals usually can be found in deserts, however, their adaptations help them cope with colder climates. It remains unclear when the footage was recorded and why the camel was being walked on the street.

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Over in South London, a man named James Brown was convicted under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act (DWA) 1976, after his neighbours complained that a serval cat was being kept in the area in 2021. The animal, which is usually found in sub-Saharan Africa, is a dangerous predator that cannot normally purchased in the UK. If it is legally imported it can only be kept by special licence holders.

Locals contacted Wandsworth Council and reported that they saw a wildcat on a window ledge in the area of Roehampton, in a property occupied by Mr Brown. But when officers and police questioned the owner, he tried to persuade them it wasn't a serval cat. At a sentencing hearing, which he did not attend, he was slapped with a fine of £1,000, ordered to pay £4,000 in prosecution costs and a £181 victim surcharge. He was also banned from owning any dangerous wild animals for two years.

Community services and environment spokesman Cllr Steffi Sutters said at the time: "It is not suitable to keep a predatory wildcat that should be roaming the wide-open plains of Africa in a cramped residence in Roehampton. In this case, Mr Brown sought to deceive the authorities about what species the animal was and where it was being kept. It was only as a result of complaints from members of the public that we were able to track it down. Happily as a result of the action we were able to take this wildcat is now living and thriving in much more natural and appropriate surroundings.”

Monica Charsley