A true, deep, and meaningful friendship is truly a prized possession. This type of bond feeds the soul and finding a friend who is authentic and compassionate are the things that really matter in life. A real friend will argue, disagree, compliment, and love you. Your BFF knows how to be brutally honest with while lifting you up like no one else can. The animal kingdom is no different. Researchers and those working with animals have observed how these creatures are capable of complex relationships both within their species and outside of it. One example of such an inspiring and loving link is between Dolly and Caesar.The Pony X-Press is a travelling petting zoo from Winslow, Maine. Among the animals are ponies, goats, deer, horses, and a camel.
Dolly’s owners Ed Papsis and Candis Veilleux, owned Dolly for ten years before they realized she was beginning to lose her vision. They were too late in getting her the required medical attention, consequently, she lost her sight completely. Meanwhile their camel Caesar, had been lonely for quite some time and in dire need of a companion.
It was really Caesar who made Veilleux realize there was no need to euthanize Dolly because he was there for her. “I checked up on Caesar one day and I saw that his gate was opened. At first, I thought he escaped but once I looked around I was surprised that I saw him with Dolly,” Veilleux explains. “They were just hanging out.”
Caesar has turned to be a “seeing camel” for Dolly by helping her find her food and water and helps her walk in and out of the barn every time she needs to. “She’s probably the only horse that has a seeing eye camel,” says Papsis.
Before losing her sight completely Dolly was teaching the young and rowdy camel to behave. “She kept teaching him right and wrong, and how to act, and as she lost her sight, she depended more and more on him,” says Papsis.
The animals cannot seem to handle to be apart from each other now. “They both cry about it. They do not like to be separated at all,” says Veilleux. “In the summer months, he’ll actually lay so that her tail swooshes and cleans the flies off his face.”
