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Camels on way to N.Y. make stop in Middlesex

T. Lyle Federber looks over camels Sage, right and Phoenix at Ferderber Farms in Valencia on Tuesday. The Bactrian camels stayed the night as they are en route from California to New York as part of the Fear No More Project. Their journey is from the Sacred Camel Gardens, a camel rescue facility in Middletown, Calif., to the Green Chimneys School in Brewster, N.Y.

MIDDLESEX TWP — The neighbors of T. Lyle and Betty Ferderber might have thought they stepped into a Dr. Seuss book this morning.

Two Bactrian camels arrived at Ferderber's farm on Tuesday afternoon for an overnight stay.

Sage and Phoenix, who boast a collective four humps, are being moved from Sacred Camel Gardens, a camel rescue facility in Middletown, Calif., to Brewster, N.Y.

There they will live at the Green Chimneys School, a private educational facility for children with emotional, behavioral, social and learning challenges.

Sage and Phoenix bedded down Tuesday night at the 88-acre Ferderber farm on Love Road for the final stopover on their way to New York.

The couple got the camel gig through a friend of a friend, who knows the driver who is taking the animals across the country.

“I'm excited to have them here,” said Betty Ferderber. “They look very tame and playful on the pictures I've seen of them online.”

Betty set up a 1-acre side pasture for Sage and Phoenix. An hour before the camels' arrival, Betty still was uncertain what her visitors ate.

“We're going to keep the horses in,” Betty Ferderber said. “I'm sure they'll go a little crazy.”

Information on the cross-country odyssey of Sage and Phoenix is available at www.sacredcamelgardens.com.

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