Hadi the Camel By Pat Sides

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Yesteryear: Hadi the Camel By Pat Sides

Hadi, the first Camel to live at Mesker Park Zoo, poses on a grassy slope at the zoo with unidentified attendants. Named after the Hadi Shriners, who purchased her in 1936, the camel arrived in Evansville from Pittsburgh, Kansas, on the back of a cattle truck.

She had originally been christened “Mirza” by Peggy Landon, daughter of the Republican candidate for U. S. President that year, but was renamed by local Shriners in a ceremony and presented to the city later in the year.

A newspaper reported that on Hadi’s journey to Evansville, her party stayed overnight at a campground in St. Louis; the following morning, annoyed tourists were surprised when they discovered the loud snoring that had disrupted their sleep had come from a Camel.Â