"Our camels are famous and loved by celebs after starring in bonkbuster Rivals"

SWNS

A couple who breed camels have been flooded with bookings after one of their animals starred in TV bonkbuster Rivals.  Joseph and Rebecca Fossett are the UK’s only licensed camel breeders which they rear at their farm in Idlicote, Warks., on the edge of the Cotswolds.  The couple, along with their grown-up children Daisy, 25, and Leo, 22, have been making a living from the humped animals for decades.  The family hire camels out for private parties and weddings and even produce milk from the animals with a dairy on their farm.  In recent years the camels have become used to star treatment, featuring in more than 20 TV shows and movies and even computer games.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Joseph Fawcett, this is Rebecca Fawcett, my wife.

00:03The camels have actually been in quite a few films over the years.

00:06From Aladdin to Death on the Nile,

00:10The Aeronauts, Nativity, that was their first one.

00:14They've also done motion capture in John Carter for Assassin's Creed.

00:18Only camel in the world, I think, to have done motion capture.

00:21She had a sort of ninja outfit made for her.

00:24They've met a few celebs along the way, haven't they?

00:26Oh, they certainly have.

00:27Who have they had riding them?

00:29Jeremy Clarkson.

00:30Oh, he wasn't very good.

00:31And Richard Hammond's also ridden them, hasn't he? He's raced them.

00:33And then we've had David Cameron's children on.

00:36We have, they have.

00:37And Michael Goad.

00:38Michael Goad.

00:39And, you know...

00:40God, there's so many.

00:41They've met a lot of actors along the way because of the films they've been in, haven't they?

00:45Yes.

00:46Fawcett's the oldest circus family in the country, my family.

00:49We go back to the 18th century.

00:51I was a wild animal trainer.

00:52I've trained lions and tigers and elephants,

00:56brown bird, black bird, polar, everything pretty well.

00:59And I love animals.

01:01I stole the idea from someone else to do camel racing.

01:05And I always remember my brother laughed at me.

01:07He said, you'll never make a living at that.

01:09But there you are, we're still here.

01:1225 years later.

01:13Exactly.

01:14And counting.

01:15And counting.

01:16It feels like 50 years later.

01:19No, but we did the Three Kings and the Camels around Christmas time, which is great.

01:23I mean, you know, the Three Kings riding through the middle of the town.

01:26And we do camel trekking here at home.

01:28You know, where people come to us and they get an opportunity to ride a camel.

01:32They've probably never seen a camel before, which is really exciting.

01:35And we do weddings with camels.

01:37We do parties, camel rides, everything you can think of.

01:43I ended up, by accident, training to be a wild animal presenter, an apprentice.

01:51And Joe turned up one day.

01:54I was training with Dickie Chipperfield, Joe's mentor.

01:58And this man in the green puffer jumped over the tunneling.

02:02And I looked at him and he looked at me.

02:03And then he went into the ring.

02:05And Dickie called me and said, can you bring me a bucket of meat, please?

02:08Because we use chunks of raw meat on bamboo sticks to train the lions with.

02:13And so that's how I met Joe, over a bucket of raw meat.

02:16Handing him raw meat to put on his bamboo sticks.

02:19I love the camels, but they are so greedy.

02:22So this summer, every year actually, I have the same problem.

02:26It's the camels trying to steal the pigs' food.

02:28The pigs live in a copse in the middle of the camel's field.

02:31And there's fencing around the copse, obviously to stop the pigs getting out.

02:35Equally to stop the camels getting in.

02:37And I caught them.

02:40So I put some food in, but probably not quite far enough away.

02:44Camels have incredibly long necks.

02:46They can reach so far in.

02:47And the pigs were eating their food.

02:49And I caught a camel with his mouth wide open like that.

02:53Gripped the back of a pig.

02:55Squeezed.

02:56Pig squealed, as you can imagine.

02:58All its friends ran round.

02:59Started snorting at the camel.

03:01Camel looked at them.

03:02Squeezed a bit more.

03:03Pig squealed a bit more.

03:05All pigs ran off.

03:06Camel, yes, here's my food.

03:09Bad, bad creatures.

03:11Anyway, there we go.

03:12That's camels for you.

03:13Dare not.

03:14They're wonderful creatures.

03:15All animals are wonderful.

03:17Animals are the most wonderful creatures.

03:20People underestimate animals.

03:21Like that little dog.

03:22I mean, they've got a brain.

03:23They think.

03:24And the only way to treat any animals is to treat them well.

03:29And if you treat them the same as you'd expect to be treated yourself,

03:32you won't have any problems.

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