The first animal to join the Animal Adventure Park family, Maxx the Camel, died on Friday morning.

"Unfortunately this morning we did have to say goodbye to one of our longtime residents and the original, founding member of Animal Adventure Park, which was Maxx the Camel," said Jordan Patch, Animal Adventure Park Owner.

Maxx joined the Patch family around 2011, which is almost a year and a half before Animal Adventure Park was established. Patch called Maxx the inspiration behind the facility.

Park employees believed that the Camel was somewhere between 18 and 20 years old, but a post-mortem veterinary check revealed that Maxx might have been a little older than that. The average lifespan of a Camel is 20 years, while some can live to as old as 30.

"For him passing at the age of around 20-years-old that's to be expected," said Patch. "What's comforting to us at the Park is that there were no signs of any stress or any issues, he simply went to sleep last night in his normal spot and just didn't wake up this morning."

Patch says the other Dromedary Camel that the Park owns is Remington, who was upset this morning.

"We moved over one of our llamas, Indie, into the exhibit to keep Remy company and it's actually doing the job quite well," said Patch.

Animal Adventure has four Camels remaining, but that's soon to change.

"We actually have three or four more Dromedary Camels joining us next week," said Patch. "So mind you, there are more Dromedary Camels coming, but no one that will compare to Maxx."

Keepers and staff say they are devastated by this loss and are asking for the public to keep them in your thoughts during this saddening time.