The Dangers of Roadside Attractions

When driving on road trips, we would often stop and read historical markers.  We would go see Rock City or Ruby Falls.  Or we would stop to see the world's largest egg or the world's largest chair.  We'd pull off the road led by a sign that said, "See Baby Rattlers" thinking we were going to see some baby rattlesnakes, but it was only a box with baby rattles in it.

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In the town we live in, you can pull off I-10 and hold baby gators.  Real baby gators!  If you stayed on I-10 west toward Baton Rouge, in 77 miles you'd be in Grosse Tete, LA where there is another wild animal roadside attraction.  At the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, you used to be able to pull off and see a real tiger.  Sadly, Tony the Tiger died.

But have no fear.  The Tiger Truck Stop purchased a camel and placed him in Tony the Tiger's former enclosure.  Meet Caspar.  He looks like a jovial fellow.

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Caspar probably needs some counseling after an event that happened last week that I read about in This Link in the Baton Rouge Advocate

GROSSE TETE — A Florida woman freed herself from a camel by biting its testicles at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete last week after she crawled into the animal's pen to retrieve her dog and the camel sat on her, authorities said.

What!

The woman's husband had been throwing treats to their dog under Caspar the camel's fence Wednesday evening before the dog went inside, the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office said Sunday.

After the dog began interacting with the camel, the couple crawled in to get it, officials said. While inside, the camel sat on the woman and she bit the animal, a male dromedary, to get it off of her.

"She said, ‘I bit his balls to get him off of me, I bit his testicles to get him off of me,'” Iberville Parish Deputy Louis Hamilton Jr. said.

Oh my!

Turns out the couple had been provoking the camel prior to the nutty occurrence.  They were cited for leash law violation and criminal trespassing.  They probably should have just stopped at Stuckey's.