It’s a video which has gone viral with millions of views (no, not the cheating couple at Coldplay!). It features a pet camel who won’t stay out of his owner’s kitchen.
That camel is Albert and he lives in Ventura County with his human best friend Alex Murad.
"He's my baby, he's my best friend, he is my guy," said Murad. "We spend all day, every day together basically."
Albert was rescued by the Murad family to their ranch near Ojai, three years ago. Since then, he’s become an unlikely sensation on social media.
"He's got a following. Post a picture of Albert, boom! They can't get enough of him," said Murad.
According to Murad, he wasn’t sure about his father Richard’s idea to bring a camel to live on their family ranch. But soon, the two were inseparable.
"I never imagined that I would have a camel as a best friend, and in fact, I was against it originally. My dad said, 'We're getting a camel and he'll be here in two weeks. ' I'm so swamped as it is. I said, 'Come on, come on, please. ' Now I can't imagine life without him."
He said he even knows what his camel friend is thinking.
"He's very curious, he's a very emotional camel. He's very expressive, with his eyes, with his face," he said. "He vocalizes his thoughts to me, his complaints. If he's not happy, if he's looking for me, he'll call out for me. I can understand exactly what he's telling me."
"He's sensitive. He's curious. He's a little bit of a troublemaker. He's playful. He's a bit of a ham, you know? He knows that everyone is always here to see him, and he's photogenic, and he's a wonderful animal. He's one of a kind, really," said Murad.
The camel isn’t the only animal with a home at the ranch. They also have goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks and a pig. Alex says that Albert the camel fits right in.
"He's adaptable to his environment. If he's with the goats, he's a goat. If he is with the sheep, he is a sheep. If he was with the horses, he was a horse," he said.
Albert is a one humped camel, and Alex says camels don’t deserve their reputation as mean animals.
"A lot of people say, 'Well, I thought camels were mean. 'I rode a camel in the Middle East, and they were so mean.' The difference between Albert and those camels is that Albert has never worked a day in his life, so he has no reason to be mean! For him, his parent is a person; people come here and feed and pet him, so he has no reason to have any ill will towards anybody."
It’s a surprise to find a camel living in Southern California, but Alex said he can't imagine life without his quirky best friend.
