November 2007

As hay prices have risen over the past years, as owners age and life circumstances change and, lately, as winter draws nigh, groups like Southeast Llama Rescue (SELR) and Southwest Llama Rescue, Inc. (SWLR) receive an increasing number of calls from established llama owners who can no longer keep some or all of their animals. Yet foster farms are still far too few, and these excellent animals, most registered with the International Lama Registry (ILR) and trained at least in basic catch, halter and lead, may soon have no place to go. When our foster farm resources are stretched beyond capacity in housing healthy and whole llamas, where will we send the ones now needing our attention, or those relative few requiring extraordinary care and attention?

The numbers that show most of our intakes coming from rehomes and herd dispersals should definitely not give the impression that we don’t still encounter too many situations where we save llama lives. We have tales of auction rescues, where we prevent at least a few perfectly healthy and wonderful llamas from going to slaughter houses; and we can tell you stories of llamas abandoned on huge tracts of government lands; of calls for someone to come and save a starving llama neglected in a tiny pen; or llamas with toenails so overgrown that they can’t walk, or the ones with halters grown into their faces. We get those calls, too.

Two Eagles: a Rocky Mountains Rescue

In a small mountain community in Colorado, a concerned neighbor, whom I’ll call “Joe,” contacted our local llama vet about an apparent case of neglect. A llama had been living in a tiny pen with a barely-there tarp for shelter. It had been wearing its halter for at least a year, and there was clearly some damage to the skin where the halter had rubbed. His toenails were extremely long and clearly painful; his fiber was a matted mess; and a rope was wrapped so tightly around one leg that it had become embedded in the flesh.

When I put out a request for help to the Rocky Mountain Llama & Alpaca Association (RMLA) members, and after my van broke down en route to pick up the llama, one volunteer drove quite a long distance into the mountains to get him and keep him at her house overnight until he could be transported the next leg of the journey. The folks who offered to foster him also drove several hours the next day to pick him up, and planned to care for him until his injuries had healed and he could be moved into long-term foster care. However, after getting the guy home and further evaluating him, they determined that his behavioral issues might prevent him from being adoptable. They offered to keep him for as long as he needs a home, and they’ll continue working with him to correct his behavior issues as they’re helping him to heal his body.

This was a great example of a best-case rescue scenario. We run into a lot of really good people in the “llama world,” and we had some great volunteers helping with this situation; but I was also hugely impressed by the non-llama people who made this rescue happen. This is a llama that might well have died from his injuries and neglect. Instead, he was fed by a bunch of people not even involved in llamas. Joe, the “concerned neighbor,” couldn’t get the owner to release the llama; so Joe not only bought him, but offered to donate additional funds toward the upcoming vet bills. A network of llama owners who genuinely care and are willing to take the actions necessary stepped up and made the rescue happen. And a temporary lay-over has become his permanent home.

Foncy: From Nevada to Colorado

A similar rescue took place just a few months ago, when a lady in Nevada, who hadn’t been able to find any help in her area, contacted us about an intact male who was owned by an elderly couple with health issues. They didn’t even know what to feed him. He was about five years old and had been passed around from one home to another for years. Having lived alone at least most of his life, he also had some behavioral issues, including fence-jumping.

When no help could be found for him in Nevada, Shellie, the lady who had contacted us agreed to meet Bea, a new SWLR foster caretaker, half-way between their locations. Shellie was in northwestern Nevada, and Bea was in southeastern Colorado. Each of these wonderful ladies made a 14-hour round-trip to get this guy to a good home. Again, a few RMLA members donated money to help with the transportation costs. Foncy, whose face is misshapen and has a number of other health issues, will live now at Bea’s where he’s getting the love and care he’s never known. 

Ft. Collins CO Auction Rescues

Twice now, we’ve made trips to an auction barn in Ft. Collins, Colorado, to keep llamas from being sold to slaughter houses. In July 2006, with funds gathered from a last-minute plea to RMLA members, friends, and local llama owners, and with assistance and support by SWLR members, several people gathered at the auction barn to participate in bidding on some 23 llamas up for sale. On this occasion, we had enough money to bid, but stopped bidding at a predetermined amount. Our thinking was that if someone was going to pay a decent price for the animals, they’d be more likely to take care of them.

Among the group that went, we ultimately took home 17 of the llamas there that day.  A few were purchased by members of our group, and the remaining llamas went to various foster homes in the area. Some of these went to Kris who lives outside Ft. Collins: one female who had just given birth to a premature cria, along with one female who had been separated from her newborn in the auction and later proved to be pregnant. A year later, when Kris’s pasture and predator situation made it necessary to move them, those two girls and their two offspring—Punk, then a yearling, and Stormy, a rambunctious four-month old—came to live at Rocky Mountain Llamas with my little herd and Bobra’s large one.

Petra, one of the moms, was still a very nervous girl, but fit right away into the larger herd environment here. Punk, her yearling boy, moved into a paddock of other weaning males. Beauty, the mom who had lost her cria during the auction, keeps Stormy close by her side. He now has a same-age playmate in Nataya, a beautiful little girl born of one of the Jane Sheppard sale llamas (mentioned later in this article). The other females that went to buyers among our impromptu rescue group are comfortable in their new homes. Several of the young males came to Rocky Mountain Llamas for training, and are either here still or have been rehomed to lives as packers or livestock guardians. All are well!

Again, in September of this year, I was alerted that four pregnant females and a gelding  would soon be offered at the same auction barn. The owner had died and his wife was selling the livestock. No one knew names, ages or veterinary information on any of the animals (including the several that had already gone to auction before we heard about them). But we did know that none of these animals had even the most basic of training, the four females were likely due to give birth any day, and that they’d all been running with the stud. (After the auction, we also discovered that they’d likely been running also with at least one juvenile male who, though his age was unknown, was certainly old enough to have been breeding his sisters and mother.)

Again thanks to individual donations by RMLA and SWLR members, we were able to acquire two of the females and the young male. The females immediately went to an adoptive home where they’d be cared for by a young lad in 4H; and the male went to Rocky Mountain Llamas for training and later placement.

Though I’m certainly delighted that we’ve saved these wonderful animals from slaughter houses, I cannot help but wonder how many we’ve missed. It’s not possible to haunt the auction houses regularly, though we are trying to establish contacts there. We don’t often have the funds to buy them or the recourse of getting them from owners before they’re released to auctions. Education will help—letting folks know that they may be able to receive [U.S.] tax benefits if they donate their llamas to a registered non-profit llama rescue; as will having more foster homes available for the ones we are able to reclaim. As always, your donations to help support efforts such as these are what will ultimately make the difference. Even when homes are available—and those are always in short-supply—it takes money to transport the animals to those homes.  Here, too, you can make a huge difference.

Jane Sheppard Sale & Celebration

On Memorial Day of this year, several friends of Jane Sheppard, who had died not long before, got together to arrange for dispersal of her sizeable herd. As with so many animal owners, Jane hadn’t made contingency plans for her llamas. Holding the “Jane Sheppard Memorial Day Sale & Celebration” at the ranch of Sharon Beacham in Salida, CO, these friends evaluated, groomed and sheared, sorted and put out word that over 60 llamas must  be sold or auctioned. Every one of them needed a new home.

Llamas deemed non-breeders were sold as adoption llamas, with a non-breeding clause in their sale contracts. Llamas of higher monetary value were sold by auction the event. Remarkably, all but four llamas were spoken for during the two-day event. Those four were surrendered, with love and great care, to Southwest Llama Rescue, Inc.

As a representative of SWLR, we hoped to have no llamas to bring back to foster homes, but feared that there could be several. With only four gelded males to place, two Colorado foster homes, one in Florissant and one in Nederland, were able to take them in.

This situation could have had a truly sad ending instead of being this incredible, loving gift to a dear friend. I just can’t stress this enough: if you have animals, include them in your plans for burial plots, funeral services and other necessary eventualities following your death or incapacitation. When you can no longer care for your beloved animals, there may not be folks around to do it for you, and the llama rescues may not be able to take in your animals. If you want to be sure your animals are cared for as you would do yourself, you must make those arrangements before the actual need arises!!

Hopeful: Mountain Lion Attack

In September 2006, we had a call from Teri, who had been contacted by a new llama owner near her. A mountain lion had attacked her mother and weanling. In the melee, the mother, protecting her offspring, was killed and little Hopeful severely mauled. Because the owner didn’t know how to care for the young female, Hopi was brought to our farm. Her wounds were horrible, and she required daily care. We cleaned the wounds daily with a Water Pik, then manually dug out the necrotic tissue and scrubbed the wounds. In spite of many weeks of painful treatment, Hopi remains friendly and curious, showing no signs of fear or other results of the trauma.

Muffin and Betsy and Bob

One of my favorite rescue stories is about a dear man, Bob, who had already taken in a neglected female, Betsy, before he met and was encouraged to take little Muffin. She was a cute youngster at that time, and had been dropped off at Rocky Mountain Llamas because of her behavior issues. She had apparently been bottle fed and raised in someone’s back yard, treated as they would a domestic pet. When she got a little older, she became aggressive, especially around food or when she didn’t want to behave as instructed.

When Muffin came to the farm, she was put in with our large herd of females, who began to teach her some llama behaviors. But she was clearly a very confused little girl, not understanding her new world and its inhabitants. She could have lived out her life here, healthy and well cared for, but without the very specific rehabilitation a llama like Muffin requires.

Llamas that have been over-socialized, often as a result of bottle feeding and subsequent early bonding to humans, may develop something we call “Aberrant Behavior Syndrome,” or “ABS.” These animals, when they reach about two years old, may “suddenly” develop aggressive behaviors toward humans. This can be as mild as pushing and spitting, which is more common with females, or as dangerous as fence-charging, stomping and biting, more typical of males, who are naturally more territorially aggressive. Most llamas with ABS are eventually euthanized. That probably would not have been Muffin’s fate at Rocky Mountain Llamas, but at best she would have been a “herd llama,” not someone’s close companion.
                      
When Bob took her home, he began working with her using the Click & Reward training method. He’s had to help Muffin learn to be a llama and to respect his gentle authority. Betsy, too, has done her share in retraining Muffin. Bob has done remarkable work with little Muffin, though he will never be able to completely relax around her.

Though ABS is indeed an aberrant behavior issue, there are too many llamas like Muffin—many with far more dangerous behaviors—and we have only a few ABS rehabilitators and facilities that can take them. However, when we get calls about llamas that are demonstrating these aggressive behaviors, and after those llamas are moved and evaluated, we often find that the llamas are not necessarily ABS. Rather, the majority are simply spoiled or have been mishandled. In these cases, rehabilitation is often quite successful. For the true ABS llama, there’s rarely such a great situation as Muffin has with Bob.

The SWLR All-Stars

When an organization like SWLR takes in a llama, it’s evaluated for health and behavioral issues. After that initial period, if we have foster homes available, the llama is rehomed until it’s adopted. However, some rescue llamas are never deemed adoptable. Sometimes it’s a matter of age; sometimes the llama has already been through so much trauma that it needs the security of a permanent home. SWLR, for example, has several llamas at the sanctuary in Silver City, New Mexico. Each of them has a story—here are just a few.

Amira is one of SWLR’s llama stars, a smart little girl with a perky personality that makes her absolutely irresistible. Amira has “llama dwarfism,” so she was born very, very small. Soon after her birth, a dog grabbed and tossed her. As a result, she’s partially blind, though you’d never know it from the way she follows the carrot bucket around the pasture! Amira’s level of comfort around human beings is unusual for llamas, who tend to be shy of people and somewhat stand-offish. Amira, in contrast to many of her herd mates, enthusiastically greets visitors at the gate and likes nothing better than a long hug and a good head scratch. She will remain permanently at the SWLR shelter, where volunteers and visitors alike enjoy indulging her demands for affection.

Dentado is one of the favorite males at the SWLR sanctuary. Coming from a herd where three of his companions starved to death, Dentado is once again healthy and has made a lot of new friends, both two- and four-legged. He gets plenty of hay and nibbles, and the occasional enthusiastic butt scratch. (It’s really funny to watch him stretch his neck out and pull back his lips in ecstasy!)

Robert E. Lee is one of the newest residents of the Silver City sanctuary. Having heard that a llama would be arriving at a meat packing plant for slaughter, one of the SWLR co-founders immediately contacted the packing plant’s owner, Lee. He didn’t want to have to kill the llama, so he turned it over to SWLR. Robert E. Lee had a bad eye, but was in pretty good shape for a boy so close to having met an untimely demise. He is a real sweetie, stands on command for haltering, and has surprised us with some very nice fiber beneath the mats and burrs. Baxter named him Robert E. Lee in a nod to the owner of the packing place, Lee; but mostly because that name just fit this wonderful, elder gentleman who looks so commanding, is a real survivor, and has such a powerful presence.

The many othersthat will live their lives out at the SWLR sanctuary in Silver City all have their own tales, their own challenges. You can find out more about them at the SWLR website on the Sponsorship Llamas page.

Note: As Southern California reels from the recent fires, we anticipate many calls about llamas, as well as other livestock and domestic pets, needing places to stay while their owners rebuild and recover. If you can help, there are some contacts listed at the end of this article.

And lest we forget…

These are just a few of our most recent rescue stories: there are so many more.  Not just stories from rescue organizations like SWLR, but from individuals committed, not necessarily to “llama rescue,” but to saving llama lives and ensuring that these incredible animals live the lives they deserve. People like Teri, who may not always be able to take in rescues at her place, but who always makes the calls to find someone who can. And Lynley, who takes in animals that no one else can or will. Or the RMLA members who donated time, money or transportation to make some of the rescues even possible. And Bobra, who offers her support and assistance and, whenever it’s needed, her time and resources. And Jane’s friends who spent an exorbitant amount of time and money… and love… to ensure that every one of her llama’s went to an excellent home.

And, of course, the many people who have opened their pastures to foster llamas—like Helene in Florissant, and Bette in Nederland, and all the others across the country—who expend their own resources caring for them. It’s a big world, and we’re just a tiny, tiny part of it—those of us who love llamas. Those of us who commit to caring for the ones that are neglected or abused; or, more and more often, those belonging to loving owners who just can’t care for their beloved companions and, with breaking hearts and tearful voices, call us for help.

For every llama rescue story, there are stories of the people who do the rescues. For every rehomed llama, there are the owners who love them enough to let them go, and the people who ensure they get to their next loving homes. For every unnecessary death, for every mutilation or starvation or other horror, there are people who have passed by, people who have looked the other way, reluctant to interfere or draw attention to themselves. Don’t be one who passes by; be someone who is involved, who cares and, most importantly, takes action. Support llama rescue.

Resources Mentioned in Article:

• Southwest Llama Rescue
  swlr@wildblue.net
  (505) 690.2611
   
• Southeast Llama Rescue
  
  
• Rocky Mountain Llama Association / Rescue Committee
  Contact L’illette Vasquez at lillette@veevee.com
   
• California Wildfires Assistance
  - California Veterinary Medical Association  (1) (2)
  - Critical Pets Rescue
  - Red Cross Disaster Services