Camels
In 1862, twenty-five camels were brought into Victoria to be used as pack animals for the BC gold rush. The camels were being sold by Otto Esche, a merchant from San Francisco who had used Bactrian camels to great success during the California gold rush. The idea proposed was that camels could replace horses, mules, oxen, and stagecoaches in general, as they can travel longer distances per day, survive for days without water, and would be able to carry heavier loads. An entrepreneur from Lillooet, John Calbreath, ended up purchasing twenty-three camels at $300 each. The camels arrived in Victoria in April of 1862 via steamship and were then taken up the Fraser River into Lillooet.
While the camels performed well initially, carrying up to double what was capable from mules and donkeys, they were also extremely temperamental and would kick at anything nearby. They were good foragers but also had a tendency to eat anything they had access to, including soap and clothing of the miners. Their feet were not suited for the rough forest terrains of BC and were easily torn, to the point where special canvas boots had to be made for them. The camels were also said to be extremely foul smelling, with both the smell and sight of them often scaring horses so much that it would lead to them falling off cliffs as they try to run away from the camels. This would also cause stampedes, which led to fatal accidents involving miners getting run over.
Soon after, dozens of reports, complaints, and lawsuits started coming in from workers along the Cariboo. Within four months of camels being used in the gold rush, the BC Supreme Court issued a government order outlawing the use of camels on the Cariboo Trail. By 1863, camels were retired completely.
In the aftermath, several of the camels were sent to ranches as working stock, though several others were released into the BC wilderness. Many did not survive the Canadian winter, and those who did were put into zoos or mistaken as bears and shot. The oldest known surviving camel from that time was known as The Lady and lived out in a ranch in Westwold until she died sometime during the late 1890s.