Friday is the first night of shows at the Ramos Brothers Circus in Glendale. So all the animals were not quite used to their surroundings, and one just wanted to get away.
Abdullah the camel ran down Glendale streets, and her handlers couldn't sprint fast enough to catch her.
"Literally there was 10 people running after this camel, it was craziness on the street, I heard kids yelling and screaming," said Diana Madison, who witnessed the incident.
Eyewitness Hamed Hamad says the camel headed straight for oncoming traffic.
"Workers were rushing after the camel, and then one of the worker was trying to go and stop traffic," said Hamad.
They were finally able to stop the camel about a block away -- with a carrot. That's their secret weapon. They were able to use it to encourage her to come back home.
But on the journey back to the circus, Abdullah headed through a gas station.
"People were surprised," said Douglas Ramos, co-owner of Ramos Bros. Circus. "It's not every day you see a camel running through the gas station."
Ramos says it all started inside a tent where the camels were doing their daily exercise.
"Somebody dropped a wrench and one of them got scared," said Ramos.
That camel saw a sliver of daylight and took off.
"You know, we do this every day. This time I guess she just wanted to go shopping or something, I don't know. Black Friday deals," said Ramos.
No humans or camels were injured, and traffic proceeded normally afterward.
