‘Oliver’ the camel, a Vermont roadside attraction, has died

FERRISBURGH, Vt. (AP) - Oliver the camel, a quirky roadside attraction, social media darling and beloved pet, has died at age 17 in Vermont.

“Ollie” delighted travelers along Route 7 in Ferrisburgh for years. Many motorists stopped for photos and selfies with the friendly creature, which sported two humps.

Oliver Camel’s Facebook page announced Friday that he died on Feb. 21. It did not cite the cause of his death.

“He was lovely. It was like owning a giant dog,” owner Judith Giusto said of camel, who was 7 feet tall and weighed about 1,200 pounds.

Her son’s Facebook post noted that “Ollie” was loved and spoiled, and looking forward to an afterlife. “My next adventure is ahead and I am ready to take it on - to go where no camel has gone before!!” the post said.

Ollie lived on Giusto’s sheep farm. He was a Bactrian camel that’s native to central Asia, so the cold weather didn’t bother him.

Giusto, a fiber artist, said she got the camel from a breeder in Wisconsin after researching them on the internet. She harvested Ollie’s coat, just like she did from her merino sheep, to create wool. But Oliver became more than a farm animal over the years.

She said she was touched by the outpouring on Facebook. “I now realize he is bigger than I ever thought he was,” she said.