CANCUN, Mexico (AFP) - A camel bit, trampled and sat on the 60-year-old American owner of an animal park in an eastern Mexico resort town, killing him, authorities said on Tuesday.

Richard Michael Mileski was attacked on Monday as he passed in front of the camel, which bit him on the foot and shoulders, said Tulum civil protection director Armando Angulo Castilla.

A Tulum Monkey Sanctuary employee told prosecutors that he was in another part of the park when he heard screams for help, and then beat the camel with a stick to try to get him off Mileski.

"We had to tie a rope around the animal's neck and pull him with a pick-up truck to remove him," the employee said, according to an affidavit.

A message on the sanctuary's Facebook page said Mileski "lost his life caring for one of the animals that he has dedicated the last 15 years of his life to saving".

Mileski founded the sanctuary on his ranch to save the spider monkey from extinction but also had dogs, ducks and horses.