Woman injured after being kicked by real camel used in church’s Nativity performance: ‘This could’ve been deadly’

Video footage shared on Facebook by Grizzy’s Hood News shows the camel, led down the aisle by a man as part of the production, striking the woman with its hind leg.

“This could’ve been very deadly y’all,” Grizzy said in a comment on the Facebook post.

A Champion Forest Baptist Church spokesperson told The Independent in a statement on Wednesday, “Champion Forest regrets that this happened. Our team responded immediately, and emergency services were engaged.”

The woman was treated at a hospital and released, according to updates shared by Grizzy's Hood News. She is recovering from injuries sustained in the kick.

Church officials did not address the nature of the woman’s injuries. They added that they stopped allowing animals to move through audience seating for the rest of the shows and have remained in contact with her family.

The six-day Christmas production, which ended Sunday, is billed by Champion Forest as Houston’s largest holiday show and a retelling of the birth of Jesus Christ. About 30,000 people attended the 90-minute show last year, according to the church officials.

Champion Forest is a multi-site megachurch with roughly 7,000 weekly attendees, and its large-scale holiday production mirrors similar Christmas spectacles at other Texas megachurches, such as Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, which features acrobatics, live animals and elaborate staging.

Houston megachurches are known for elaborate, Hollywood-style worship productions that draw large crowds, though some Christmas shows have faced criticism for being overly flashy.

Facebook users had conflicting views about this year’s production and the camel incident on a KPRC2 / Click2Houston article about the event.

“I’m so sad that this lady was injured during a performance and praying she recovers quickly, My family has enjoyed attending the Christmas Spectacular for many many years and it is always a wonderful experience for our entire family, young and old,” one supporter wrote.

“We appreciate all that Champion Forest Baptist does for our community and sincerely hope they continue this Christmas tradition for many more years,” they added.

However, many other users took issue with the amount of money the production seemingly required, and questioned the safety of parading animals through the crowd.

“This church is always spending lavishly. Which is the complete opposite of what Jesus taught,” one person wrote.

Another said, “Just a thought, but I feel like the better option would be to use all of that money spent on that show (which would probably be a lot) to feed the needy/give back to the community for the holidays. Just me.”

“People forget these are animals,” a third person said. “ Who thought it was a good idea to walk them down the aisles of a church? I went once, and the animals came in from backstage. I’m personally not a fan of using animals for entertainment or shows, but at least they were in and out quickly—not paraded around a building packed with people.”