Fun farm stuff: llama rescue

[John K Jordan]

Yesterday was a llama rescue operation. I drove 104 miles with a trailer to meet with some other experienced llama handlers. The project was to capture two llamas, one older and blind and the other 10 years young, wild and unhandled since birth. Both had been neglected and never had even basic health and grooming care. Catching them took all our tricks but went smoothly and no one got hurt. A couple of hours later they were on the way back to my place for temporary confinement.

24 hours later the two have most of the years of matted wool removed, fangs (fighting teeth) removed, toenails trimmed, other parts removed (castrated), and fecal samples taken for lab work - seems like we are always removing things! Well, we did add something: their shots. The two are resting and recovering (will be sore for a while) with plenty of food and water, will wait here for a foster home offer. For now they have horses across the fence for company.

That's what we do for fun in our spare time! Some rescues take hours and exhausting physical effort. For anyone bored with life we have plenty of opportunities for volunteer help. :)

JKJ

[Mel Fulks]

John, fine heroic work....and further to your credit,we know you enjoyed every minute of it! You really should consider running one those dude ranch things; makes it easier to "round up a posse".

[Mike Cutler]

LLama's are cool.:cool:

Well done John!

[Yonak Hawkins]

Congratulations on the rescue, John and kudos for your helpfulness and compassion for those animals.

[John K Jordan]

...You really should consider running one those dude ranch things;

Yikes, that sounds like WORK!

JKJ

[Frederick Skelly]

Well done John! (Well. Except for the part about removing ..... stuff.) :D

[John K Jordan]

Well done John! (Well. Except for the part about removing ..... stuff.) :D

I held the lead rope for that part while the vet went in for the "stuff". When I get regular fecals on the herd a friend and llama expert usually gets them on mine and hers and sends them in all at once. Between our two farms there are 29 llamas, alpacas, and equines. BTW, parasite control by testing is FAR better than by guessing with periodic deworming - many of our animals are found to need no treatment. Periodic deworming without testing (what MOST people do) can lead to superbug mutations that are getting more and more difficult to treat all over the country.

JKJ