Camels are coming!

The Camels are coming to spend the night on Sunday, May 13. These camels will be hosted at the home of Dennis and Linda Nebbe by the Nebbe’s and P.E.T. P.A.L.S. and the Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project. The Camels, Sage and Phoenix and their Camel Steward, Stuart, will be traveling from Sacred Camel Gardens (http://sacredcamelgardens.com/) in California to their new home at Green Chimneys Farm (http://www.greenchimneys.org/) in upper New York State.

Visiting with Stuart, the Camel Steward, and with Green Chimneys I know they are planning PR around this event. Stuart welcomes visitors and photographers to see the camels and I will be informing and inviting students, people associated with P.E.T. P.A.L.S. and Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project, and others who are interested as well to meet the camels. (My grandchildren are coming too!  :  ))

Green Chimneys Farm is a residential treatment program for children with special needs. These camels will be Animal-Assisted Therapy Camels and join many other animals that are part of the Green chimneys program. To learn more about this program please go to their web site and to learn more about the camels please go to their web site!  (http://www.greenchimneys.org/)  (http://sacredcamelgardens.com/)

The camels are slated to arrive between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. If you wish to meet the camels, please come between 6:00 and 7:30. You will need to park on the road in from of our home. Also please approach calmly and respectfully! I live at

2027 S. Union Road.

Travel west of UNI on University to the corner of Union Road. Turn south (left) and go .8 of a mile, just past the next intersection.

Some background:

Throughout my professional career, much which has focused on Animal-Assisted Therapy, I have traveled around the country/world and made many friends in the field. I was asked by one of these, Michael Kaufmann now Farm and Wildlife Director at Green Chimneys Farm in New York State, to help them out by offering a place for the camels to spend the night on their trip from California to New York.

In our counseling program here at UNI I teach a class in Animal/Nature Assisted Therapy. The students from that class (in collaboration with community organizations PET PALS and Black Hawk Wildlife Rehabilitation Project) offer an "Animal Camp" for "children who would benefit" from the experience. The camel visitors are exciting because the camels offer a unique (and I have to say unusual and fun) connection to the larger profession of AAT.