Viejo came to us from the Alamosa rescue in December of 2022. He struggled to move then as we gently herded the 25 llamas towards our huge corral. He would lay down to rest every 25 feet or so and stop at the snow piles to hydrate since they had no water. Animal control called us after knowing of this dire situation after 4 years. Carcasses lay everywhere of the casualties of this rough life with no food or water for years. Who knows how big this herd once was on 160 acres of rabbit or sage brush. But Viejo, walking with a limp favoring his left hind hip, carrying a matted fiber blanket that nearly reached the ground like a train on a wedding gown, was a survivor. He has a fine featured face with gentle eyes and not very tall - maybe 5'4" including his ears when standing erect. 

The video here first shows Viejo eating snow and moving to the next snow pile as I approach. The others in the herd are doing the same. They have never been handled and are not that afraid of humans but they are also weak and potentially malnourished. After several days of working with them, we managed to get them all loaded and taken to our sanctuaries. This is to provide some context as to where Viejo came from and his challenges in his life. Forward to almost two years later. 

When it happened, Viejo was in the large 5 acre field we now lease. Before the  leg break he was in a one acre field since the rescue that was right outside my door with 6 other males. Viejo is intact as is Wookie, a yearling from the same rescue who has medical issues and does not digest properly. They look alike and Wookie is in love with Viejo - sticks with him and eats with him. Viejo is a good grandpa, I think.  I got to know Viejo well and enrich his diet with alfafa. He still wont take any grain. All the Alamosa llamas had not ever had grain or supplements and they are all suspicious of it. A few, I have convinced after a year or more. But Viejo is old - so I think - because his front incisors are worn down almost to the pallet and his very long matted fiber looks like 20 years worth. He must have been starving a lot in his life to wear them down his teeth on sand or hard materials. 

The move from the field was challenging as I had to yet train Viejo and Uno, another adult gelding who was part of Viejo's family, to walk about 4 "blocks" to a new field. Uno had practice within the acre. Viejo, with his limp and his age, I left alone except for administering some medications occasionally. I gave him a quick course in leading with the halter and he was fabulous. I put him behind Uno, Wookie, and a couple other trained geldings for company; and he managed the walk along the ditch with culverts appearing now and then. With patience, not pulling, and allowing him to think about the situation, he came along a little wobbly, limping slightly and was joined with his pals at the new 5 acre space. A month goes by and all is well there. 

There are 4 more yearlings we have been raising that I have been holding in a 1.5 acre space that I wanted to combine with the adult males. Then I could give the females more space. The yearlings are becoming sexually mature and have weaned. They have to be separated from the females and have been since they were about 11 months old. It was suggested by one of my mentors why not put them all together? Sounded good to me. That should also help the youngsters adjust well being managed somewhat by adult males and learn llama manners. 

I don't know what went wrong - I didn't see it happen. I had noticed that Viejo was keeping the yearlings in check and even chasing them a little to keep them from being annoying. I was surprised and impressed at his activity level. It did not occur to me that he could be harmed. The yearlings all ran away from him whenever I saw them interact. The field is a 10 minute walk from my house though so I don't get to observe as often as I want. It's a sad situation that we lost the near field. 

November 15, I am at the newly leased 5 acre field to feed and check on the llamas with my friend, mentor, and volunteer Jodi Addis. We amble up the field as I explain Viejo often stays separated up filed a ways so I can bring him alfalfa and the others are too far away to notice so they don't interfere. Jodi sees something weird with his foot. Oh God! It's definitely broken. I'm crying as I look at how he is holding it and not walking. He is standing on three legs. Jodi makes me answer her question - "What are you going to do with him?"
"I'm going to move him away from the others."
"Then what?", she wants to know.
"I don't know - stabilize his leg, I hope." 
Will we have to put him down? Is this fixable? What are the options? I'm crying and trying to think straight. I get a halter and Jodi assists with herding/walking him to the corrals. He can do it - hobbling on three legs. He is amazing - strong, not crying, not giving up, not fussing. I am just getting more scared at losing this amazingly resilient elder llama. Seeing him move three legged around, I decide we have to stabilized his leg. Jodi says she can help splint it. I love Jodi - she is always up for a tough medical situation and does not shy away from trying to help from the grossest wounds to broken legs, she is always there <3 !

With his leg stabilized using an ankle/shin split I saved, Viejo is able to touch his toe to the ground a bit. He is feeling more confident as am I that we can transport him if we find a veterinarian willing to but a cast on him. Villiage Veterinary Hospital in Los Lunas calls me back fairly promptly. Dr. Jablinski is glad to hear it is his cannon bone - that could be cast. I am relieved she says to bring him in. I have a trailer with a ramp and since he did learn a little about leading recently, I think I can get him in the trailer. Going through this trauma with llamas always brings out the best in the llama, I feel. They seem to know they are being helped and they are usually very good patients if they know me. I don't mind spending the money on their treatment since they will become very loyal and trusting llamas after the trauma is over, if they make it. I am full of admiration for Viejo as he loads in the trailer. Getting the xrays was a piece of cake with him. He hung his leg off the edge of the trailer floor giving the best vantage for the mobile xray machine as if he know what we wanted him to do. 

I got a call from a guy needing to surrender his 4 female llamas early April 2023. He had taken them in from someone who needed to get rid of them about 5 or 6 years ago. They had 10 acres to roam and he liked them but had to sell his place and could not take them along. Financial hardship is often the reason for surrendering llamas. It did not sound like an emergency so April 18th, Jodi Addis, an expert llama handler and rescue assistant, went to see how they looked and how we would load them up. She found they looked ok but one had an injury on her hip that was missing fiber with some cuts. They also had not much of anything to eat. They had been scrounging in neighbor’s’ yards for anything to eat and the owner was considering letting them go roam on 200 acres of a subdivision to be able to eat something. They had gotten out on the highway at least once as well.
Some good news is that they like grain and will come for it. ​

​April 19th Frank and Jodi picked up the llamas. The owner had them in a chute that was easy to back up to and they were very eager to get out of that space and jumped right into the trailer. A very easy load up this time.
The 4 girls were brought back to Albuquerque where they were penned adjacent to our other females. Little Girl with an injury, her mother was Izzy, Groot, and Duchess were the other two. Groot was the most nervous of the group. Izzy and Little Girl were very compliant.

​I noticed a rotting smell when I went to see the new girls the next day. The small female had a serious wound. On April 21st, Jodi and I went to work cleaning her up and found hundreds of maggots buried in her wound. We were in over out head with this injury and decided that day to take her to the vet. We figured she would need some pain relief at least to dig out all the dead tissue and clear out all the maggots that were drilling into her. What was very encouraging was what a fantastic patient Little Girl was. She cried lightly as Jodi was trimming away the fiber to get at the wound (which was huge!) but once Jodi started irrigating the wound with a weak solution of betadine, she was quiet and still. We kept her mom, Izzy,  in the pen with her for comfort. There was also a llama adoption happening this day so when we got ahold of the vet, he said we could bring her tomorrow (Saturday).

The vet kept her for over a week as the cleaning was a process and they wanted her to be healing. When we picked her up I was not allowed to talk to the vet directly and did not feel satisfied as to why she had large masses on her. The diagnoses was that she had an injury that got infested with maggots and that if we keep her clean she will heal. 
Jodi and I took turns cleaning her 2x a day and used a solution of weak betadine for flushing and silver antibiotic spray and finished with a gentle fly repellant. We did this for two months. 
One day I had a group of veterinary technician students over and their instructor who looked at Little Girl. I pointed out that there was some tissue that looked necrotic to me so I decided to cut some of it off. Little Girl did not even flinch but the snip that I took was like a 1 inch circle and it bled, to my horror. 

From early on I kept asking my veterinarians if this was cancer. The wound was not healing but tissue was growing. Little Girl always had a good appetite, was very active, easy to treat and I was feeling more and more close to her as she tolerated so much treatment. Luckily she loved getting some grain and always came voluntarily into the catch pen. After trying one veterinarian and talking with a couple of others, we decided to take her to see another vet in Los Lunas. We brought her mom along with her (Izzy) to make the trip less stressful. 

The vet examined the wound and tried to determine the size of the cavity in her hip and it was bigger than he could reach. Amazingly Little Girl only cushed and did not make any sounds. She seems not to have a lot of pain with all the probing. The vet said he could clean up the wound and see from there what should be done. There would be surgical removal of a lot of tissue and he would let me know how badly her hip and leg were damaged. I asked if this was cancer and he said very unlikely. I requested a biopsy anyway. The biopsy would be done from a tissue sample taken during the surgical cleaning. 

Little Girl came back from her surgery with a cover over her cleaned wound that was tied to her skin. We were instructed to remove the bandage each day to cleanse it and then replace it with the strings that were attached to her skin. Little Girl tolerated this very well. A week later the surgeon called to let us know that she has a very aggressive form of skin cancer and there was no treatment at this stage. We continued to clean and care for Little Girl and give her the happiest life we could. 
Little Girl passed away on July 20, 2023. She was active until the morning we found her. Mysteriously, Duchess went down only about a week later. We examined Duchess and discovered she was an intact male and renamed him Duke. Duke ate and drank but would not get up.  Duke died July 30, 2023 of unknown causes. Perhaps he was very upset at the loss of Little Girl. This was a very hard summer with these losses. Izzy and Groot were ultimately adopted later in the summer and have a lovely new space in the mountains near Santa Fe, NM.

Animal control contacted me again about another llama rescue. I know the officer from the previous rescue we just did last month of 28 llamas at 11 Mile Canyon. This, she said, is about the same size herd. The original owner was now deceased for 5 years now and the other family members were not able to care for the llamas. This was a friendly situation, however, since the homeowner was ready and willing to surrender the llamas. First, was to see if they had food and water and if not, to deliver what was needed. This was in December and the temps were hovering around 0 degrees most mornings. It would get colder than that. We had to buy and set up a water tank with a heater so they could drink water and deliver bales of hay. The estimate was 25 llamas and that was exactly how many we ended up collecting, eventually.
Melissa Dernoga volunteered to get some hay, buy a water heater, tank, and deliver it to the llamas. She bought about 15 bales I think and put one or two bales inside their yard. They had 160 acres of rabbit brush mostly. I was so glad she lived within an hours drive to the rescue site. 

It would be a couple of weeks before we could go round up the llamas. We would need three trailers and three trucks to carry all the llamas to a sanctuary. Once we arrived and saw them, there were males, females, and crias. It was easy to walk among them, they were very calm and unafraid. We set up Robin Benton's trailer with grain near by and two different types of hay. and surrounded the trailer, grain, hay and water with a corral with a wide opening for them to enter. The team included myself, Frank, my husband, Jodi Addis, Robin Benton, Baily Nelson, and Andy Petrick. We had a good group of llama savvy people. This was Jodi's first llama rescue. 

While we waited patently in the early morning, in our trucks out of the way of the corral opening, They all started meandering towards the corral area. they got within feet and all the sudden, the large black male alarmed. Of course they all went running to the other side of the 160 acre property. It was fairly flat (unlike 11 Mile Canyon) so we could generally see where they were - if sometimes we stood on top of the truck. We discovered the source of the alarm were some herding guard dogs that were protecting their flock of sheep across the road. This was frustrating as we had no control over the dogs other than to watch the road and try to keep them from scaring the llamas. Our corral was set up by the house which was next the road and we were not about to reset everything up. We had used as many panels as we could carry on our trailers - something like 20 panels - so that we could make a large enough corral that they would not shy away from it. It can't look like a trap or they would not enter. 

We only had Andy for one day and we knew loading up the llamas could take some man power so we just kept hoping we would get the llamas to come back to the corral voluntarily. It seemed like they would come in so close and then the same large black male would always alarm and then they would all run off. We waited hours in between expecting they would get thristy or want the food. The trailer and hay set up had been there for a week for them to get accustomed to it but it seems they never did get used to it. We observed them eating snow to hydrate out in the field rather than come to the warm water trough. Maybe they were afraid of the owners dog in the house as well. But generally, the owner and his dog were very still and quiet. They cooperated and did all that we could ask for.  

Our efforts all day waiting for the llamas to go into the large corralled area for food or water was in vain. We had high hopes for the next morning that they would come in and instead, the main male alarmed again and they all ran off. Frank told Jodi, "If we don't get them now, we aren't getting them." Andy had to go home so we were down a man and we had time pressures of our own now. 
Jodi headed out to the end of the field where the llamas were and started very gently herding them - very slowly- and very casually. She took the lead for the rescue operation at this point and we followed all her instructions. Jodi has experience with herding dogs and we were trying to be good herd dogs. Frank and Bailey were by the house and while reception was spotty, I hoped they would see what was happening and assist once we got them close to the pen. 

Credit and Thanks to Robin Benton and her 4H students who assembled this informational paper.

Thanks to the cooperative effort of volunteers, law enforcement, Parks and Wildlife, and the State of Colorado, 22 llamas were successfully rescued from starvation and neglect and have been moved to pre-screened homes to receive veterinary attention and care. 

It began with an email requesting help from the County Sheriff’s Office to F.E. Baxter, Co-Founder/Treasurer of Southwest Llama Rescue (SWLR), on October 3. A follow-up call came to me from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Protection Lead Investigator/Coordinator on Thursday October 6. The investigator asked if SWLR could assist with a case where they were serving a warrant and seizing llamas. The estimate was 20 llamas that needed a place to go. Without hesitation, I said, “yes, definitely. I don’t yet know where we will put them, but we will figure it out.” But they weren’t just looking for a commitment, they were ready to go that Sunday, October 9th – the date for the warrant to be served. This was a short notice emergency!

Having a small network in Colorado was lucky and imperative. Robin Benton is my go-to, so I was relieved that she was available. Also, Eric Gustafson, another SWLR volunteer, was quick to take a personal day from his demanding work schedule to help these llamas in need. Between the three of us (and our companions), we could load 20 llamas into our three trailers. I called Ingrid Thompson for a location to temporarily house the llamas. I had met her at another llama roundup earlier this summer. Ingrid and Duane Snader of Cloverleaf Farms West (CFW) agreed without hesitation to take the llamas temporarily. The had some space that we could separate males from females; so, I was so relieved that they volunteered to help us. None of us could have taken in these many llamas! Frank, my husband, was also recruited. He came mainly to keep me in check and to assist with some heavy panel lifting and setup for the llama roundup and his creative, calm, and thoughtful perspective is always a great benefit in the sometimes-chaotic atmosphere of a wild llama rescue.

Frank and I headed up to Colorado on Friday to stay in Pueblo and prepare for the event. All this was happening while I was coordinating a llama adoption process long distance in Grand Junction. Alexis Knight who with Kathleen Knight has been fostering and training two male llamas covered for me and did a wonderful job finding a candidate, reviewing facilities, and assisting with the overall adoption and successful transfer. Danielle Yahn, the new owner, is also now another potential volunteer in Grand Junction.
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The field team met 0900 Sunday in the parking lot at 11 Mile office for a briefing. We heard about the owner’s property who was being served – he was not home, gratefully, so there was no confrontation. On the team were State, County, and Park officers. Some were armed for the situation. We all signed a sheet as participants with our contact information. Eric also brought his daughter Lena and her friend Michaela who were very helpful.

​The day before, the wonderful Park Officer rounded up five of the roaming llamas penned them at the 11 Mile Park office. There were other llamas at large, around the property as far as a mile away, to go look for. The Colorado State Animal Control had a plan to split up the team: the state and county officers were going to the property to serve the warrant and take evidence for the investigation, and SWLR was to go with the 11 Mile Park officer, find a place to put our panels up, and capture the llamas that were roaming off the property. One of the males had advanced aberrant behavior syndrome (ABS) (aka novice handler syndrome) and was labeled as Aggressive Llama in the photos we got from animal control. It was said that he was certainly bottle fed. The 11 Mile Park officer had a long history with him and named him Carl after the popular and violent llama in the cartoon, ‘Llamas with Hats’. The issues with this llama herd have gone on for 10 years. Carl was known to chase park goers, knock them down (I saw a video) and not let fishermen out of the water. He was known to put his head in the window of cars and bite people. He was a serious threat to the public and the plan was to dispatch him, sadly. We had no one who could take Carl – he was not borderline, he was advanced ABS, the result of hand feeding or coddling llamas and not enforcing personal space. He was the first llama that we saw when we followed the Park officer and the game warden into the hills.

​We were off-roading with our trailers about a mile from the property. With binoculars, we also saw a small herd of about 5 llamas about 100 yards away from Carl. The llamas were scattered over more than a mile of open land, with access to hundreds of acres of open space. Most private fencing in the area is relatively low barbed wire, easy for many llamas to jump. We were challenged by the enormous size of the landscape for this roundup effort. The other llamas in the vicinity came running to Carl (a surprise to to some but llamas are bonded and curious). The officer got out hay and tried to set up panels while the llamas were eating in hopes of containing them for us. The females were almost penned with the two officers using a rope for herding them when a male llama was approaching and stepped on a strand of barbed wire. He panicked and ran, wrapping the barbed wire even more around him. All these llamas then ran, giving rope burn to our park officer.

The llamas were scattered over more than a mile of open land, with access to hundreds of acres of  open space. Most private fencing in the area is relatively low barbed wire, easy for many llamas to jump. We were challenged by the enormous size of the landscape for this roundup effort. 

The opening of the property is where the officers had staged their trucks and trailer so when the loose llamas approached, they did not want to enter. it's always a challenge when multiple agencies and people are trying to organize an effort to catch animals without time for more pre-planning, and an agreement on who will lead the effort. Everyone sincerely wants to help but there were multiple authorities, and the plan came together as it evolved.

State Animal Control had 10 panels 5.5 ft. high and 12 foot long and had them set up except one side being 4-strand wire fencing that we needed to re-enforce with my panels to prevent escape. Two large males kept trying to come in but with human bodies everywhere, and us trying to set up the panels by the entry to completely enclose their corral, it was chaos. Two adult males and an adolescent male were finally corralled. One of these males was aggressive and would charge and rear up. He did not scream or spit but clicked a lot at the crew. I called him borderline ABS.

​I made a comment that the llama people should load these guys which was not meant to insult anyone, but tensions seemed to mount even more, then. The adolescent male then jumped through the fencing back out on the road but we managed to get him back in the property to corral him more securely. We loaded the two males into Eric’s trailer, including Cowboy, the borderline ABS male. The rounding up of the three month-old crias, another adolescent male, and another adult male was stressful as we were on about 10 acres and parts of the fencing was compromised where they could get out, if pressured. Four or five of us tried to do it, but the crias or the other two would squeeze out. I brought out 500 feet of herding tape and finally all nine or so crew worked together to slowly herd the llamas into our large corral. It was a good feeling with everyone working together, for the most part. With everyone’s patience thinning, we did get the five remaining llamas into my trailer successfully. Only two large males, one with barbed wired around him, who I call Tangled, were outside and too spooked to collect. ​

We got the three crias in who were separated from their mothers that were loaded into the officer’s cattle trailer.   We traveled back to the 11 Mile office to get the five llamas waiting there into Robin’s trailer. It was about this time that I heard that there were 18 deceased llamas on that owner’s property, where we just were. This was stunning and sad news that would go into the investigative report about the neglect and cruelty of this case. We were grateful that SWLR was to take the 22 live llamas in their trailers to CFW. An attempt to do some musical trailers from the cattle trailer to Eric’s trailer was not successful. Our State Animal Control Officer generously agreed to drive their cattle trailer to CFW with the 10 llamas (minus the three goats). Then we loaded the 5 waiting llamas at the office juggling them a bit to separate a male into Eric’s trailer from the two more mothers with older crias going with Robin.

​Arriving at CFW, Ingrid and Duane had about an acre of fenced and cross fenced area that we unloaded four trailers of llamas into. Hay and water was enjoyed and the reunion of the crias and mothers was a joy to watch. They were all recuperating and enjoying loving care for two weeks while we received the release form from animal control so we could adopt them to good homes. Ingrid and Duane adopted a mother-cria pair and another three were adopted by a close neighbor. The remaining eleven females and crias were transported to our SWLR sanctuary in Kerrville, TX with F.E. Baxter. Of the remaining llamas, there are 6 males; and Cowboy, is already spoken for. Other than many of the llamas being very thin, some needing shearing, and intestinal parasites. We were very lucky to get them when we did. The remaining two are out there and need to be rescued before winter comes. Two failed attempts, but we are still going to keep trying.
The cost, time, equipment and other resources like feed that went into this rescue was provided by volunteers. We rely on volunteers and donations to make a difference in the lives of these creatures often saving them from starvation as in this case. To contribute to Southwest Llama Rescue to continue our efforts, donations can be made by going to www.southwestllamarescue.org.

Scout was the name given to one of the intact males that was included in our recent Jefferson, Colorado llama roundup. There were 12 wild males (out of 24) living on a large ranch (160 + acres) that were gathered up in June and rehomed or placed in temporary foster care with Southwest Llama Rescue volunteer. This is not an easy or simple effort and requires experienced llama handlers and a strong coordination among the team. We were lucky to have caught these llamas in two days. Day one: create the corral that can contain 24 jumping males. Day 2: manage to herd them into the corral, sort out half of them and load those scared llamas into the trailers. Seven of the twelve went to a temporary foster facility only about 55 miles away in Divide, CO. Scout was one of those seven but was the only one who was still intact in that group. This is a story about Scout and his companions that moved to Divide. Scout is a beautiful rich brown color (insert photo) and (more description?)
A side note: The other five males were driven to New Mexico and were younger than the Divide group who were placed in their forever homes as soon as they arrived in Albuquerque. They are all adjusting well to their new homes with other young male llamas to run with and are getting along great.
As typical of wild llama round ups on large properties, the ages of the llamas were not known -- other than an estimate of; if they were gelded, they were at least 7 years old, and if they were intact, they would have been born on the ranch, making them younger. So, we deduced Scout is younger than 7. Of course, with wild llamas, it was not easy to tell if they were gelded or not until they were sheared or handled.
It was the decision of the foster care to have all 7 males sheared the following morning of their arrival. This was to be their first experience being handled by people and we were very concerned about how this would affect their adjustment and trust in people. But the decision was ultimately that of the foster parent who was planning to also halter and lead train anyway and the deficit of trust would have to be regained by them. The shearing commenced with professional shearers using the tie and stretch on the floor method which was quick but still not without trauma and stress. The early shearing did reveal some very thin llamas under heavy coats that had never been shorn before. Nails were not an issue since their home turf was great for keeping them down. Fighting teeth trimming was not part of this as that would have likely required medication, which was not used. 

​This is good background for what happened with Scout a couple of days later. The shearers were called back to adjust the halters that were too loose. Another rough-handle situation that was done inside the barn. One can imagine what the llamas are thinking given how they are handled every time they go in the barn. On day three, our foster parent was working hard to manage the ranch and the new llamas and was going about the business of feeding and working around the yard. Scout typically appeared relaxed with his companions, but that day decided to leap over the panels (and another fence or two) and ran off into the pasture where the females and a gelded male (their guardian) were frequently grazing on over 50 lush acres. This should have been expected once Scout observed the females come and go a couple of times. A 5 foot panel and fence is not much of a deterrent to an intact agile young male.
Our assumption was that if the females were brought back in, Scout would return. A month passed and the foster parent spent many hours looking for him on the 100-acre property. The ATV may have scared him off. There was plenty of food and water for a smart wild llama like Scout and he had no need to return to the corrals and barn. We hoped that he was not on the highway somewhere, caught by the 15 inch lead attached to his halter and immobilized, or fallen by a mountain lion or other predator. 

​Then, a Facebook message came to our foster parent that a llama was spotted about 3 miles west of the foster home and not far from the highway. Maybe he was working his way back home. A party of 10 people led by the foster parent included the local animal control and some friends to catch Scout again. SWLR was not contacted until two attempts were made that weekend to no avail. Lynda Liptak got the call that it was just too much and the stress of running around trying to pickup Scout could cause someone a heart attack. So, it was left up to SWLR and the professionals to recover Scout. Again, we were dealing with a wide-open area – this time hundreds of open acreage, and a wild llama with all he needed. Except companionship.
Lynda was indisposed in Albuquerque so she contacted Robin Benton in Monument, Colorado to request her help in getting Scout back and to lead his rescue. Robin and Lynda also reached out to Stage Stop Llamas for a female bait llama to use to interest Scout into approaching. Jeff Rucker of Stage Stop Llamas was very kind to help out and brought a female llama and Robin brought her male llama and Bailey (last name?) from 4H to assist out to the field. 

​Along with Trixie (last name?) and the other great folks at Teller County Animal Control, Jeff, Robin, Bailey, and a pair of llamas, they headed out into the field where Scout was seen. Scout took one look at the pair of llamas, called out an alarm, and ran up into the trees and hid. So much for that idea. Animal control left since they were discouraged from driving out to him on their ATVs and did not have the time to wait him out. Jeff left with his female llama since that did not seem to work. So, Robin and Bailey were the last ones standing.
Robin opted that they sit down in the shade of a tree and see what happens. Her male llama Obe (Sp?) was in the old dilapidated corral within sight, hanging out calmly. But within about 40 minutes, Scout came charging out of the trees and made a straight line for Obe right into the corral to perform a male challenge posturing. Robin and Bailey quickly sealed the corral and got Obe to safety. Fantastic! In less than an hour, Scout was trailered up with the help of animal control 

To the credit of Robin’s tremendous awareness of llama behavior, Scout was finally recovered. And, due to her generosity, and patience, Scout is now fostered at Robin’s with doubled fencing and then 6’ high panels to domesticate him, build some trust, and eventually find him the right home. Scout has become a very sweet llama and can be gently handled. Scout is very attentive and curious, and is going to be very trainable. He does seem a bit traumatized around his neck and head, probably from the rough shearing and the halter discomfort from a poor fit and being on for about a month. He will allow Robin walking right up to him and touching his withers freely. We hope that he will soon be adopted along with a couple of his buddies from his heard so that he can feel safety and comfort.
Southwest Llama Rescue is a 501(c)3 and has several llamas that are needing qualified homes. Please help us with homes, donations, assistance. We are all volunteers looking out for quality of life for all llamas. 

Usually llamas are born into a relationship-filled herd. They start with being welcomed by all the other llamas at birth when bonds are formed. Ideally, the cria have other crias to play with and learn about interactions and appropriate behaviors in their family dynamics. Having other adult llamas beyond the mother is very helpful in their development. Whether the bonds are maintained or broken is usually dependent upon their human caretakers.
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Understanding there are competing wants and needs, it is my wish that we consider the needs of the llama and try to accommodate their social bonds that are part of their health system. Although we can’t maintain all the bonds we would like to, and some bonds are naturally cut in the course of their lives, we can take their relationships into consideration when they are sent to new homes. Llamas are happy in a herd, and I find I am questioning what is the number that makes a herd?

​Note: guard llamas are often requested as a single llama. They can bond with other species. Yes, this is true, but they can guard very well in pairs – one llama scouting and protecting the perimeter and the other llama staying with their charges. I believe this is a better solution. They speak the same language, work better together, and have a better chance at protection and surviving an attempted attack. I remind those requesting a guard llama that llamas are only a part of a multi-layered defense. 

I find that as I get to know the llamas that come through Southwest Llama Rescue (SWLR), I see the benefit of keeping llama families intact. This is often a challenge if the llama family is large. In fact, the most requested adoption is for one or two llamas. Very rarely more than two, and when we get requests for two guards, it is likely because it is known our policy is that they are adopted in pairs.

Occasionally the request is for one llama; as the companion to an existing llama who lost their llama friend - and the kind owner understands that they need company. When the size of property is limiting, or the resources for raising and feeding llamas is scarce, a two-llama herd is certainly a benefit to the llamas needing a home and very much appreciated. But if there is the ability to consider more than one bond, then my preference for llama adoptions is really a minimum of three, with four being better.

I recently had the great luck to be contacted by a family interested in two llamas for adoption. After conducting the site visit and meeting with them, I was very happy they were interested in having llamas as they were perfect candidates with ideal facilities and pasture; as well as the desire to learn about llamas, proper care, and handling. But, I had a conundrum.

Having a family of four that needed a home, I assessed two candidate llamas in that family were possible for them; I knew I would have to break some strong bonds (in my assessment). This is an agony that I wrestle with nearly every time there is a request for adoption. Wanting two llamas to start out with should be easier, common sense tells us. And, if I had a pair of appropriate llamas that needed to be separated from the herd, that would have been a great answer. The truth is, I could break up a family of four that came in about 4 months ago and deliver two to the wonderful new adopters and send the remaining two to another home, when one comes up. I conceded that a separation was necessary in order to place these llamas and tried to console my guilt with the fact that, hey, they are after all surrendered and there is no guarantee that we can keep them together.
So, the family wanted to come over and see the llamas and watch their interaction. For background, the human family planned to use them for guards for their soon-to-be goat herd. I was not certain the llamas would be good guards, but thought we should try it out as part of their security system. We had two females who were a little skittish, but one started to allow me to feed her up close. The other two llamas in their group were a mother and a nursing cria. The exact relationship or lineage is not known; this is true for 95% or more of the surrenders that we take in. Perhaps they are all related or perhaps not.

In any case, they were close to each other from the same herd, had been through some rough times (all around 5-8 years old except for the cria); two were known to likely have had crias that had perished. The mother was the leader of the group who missed the herd of origin and all the bonds she had. I know this because she paced the fence line looking beyond to the horizon for a month after they arrived. They had come from a large herd of about 26 llamas in Jefferson, Colorado and they were the only females. They were wise to predators having roamed on hundreds of acres all their lives and they were survivors. What they needed was good care and handling to build trust in humans.

I let my wish be known that I would prefer the family stay together and that in my opinion, they would be more effective and safer being together. In fact, I find that they move together so well that it is very easy to manage the herd of four as they follow each other and learn from each other very well. When working on trust with the most comfortable one in the bunch, the others are watching and learning. 
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And, in the Camlidynamics fashion (read The Camelid Companion by Marty McGee Bennett, a wonderful resource), “packing” the catch pen with multiple llamas while handling and training, is an excellent technique. They feel safer in a bunch and I can spread out my enthusiasm across all four. A half hour spent on 4 llamas will be enough for them, while a half hour on one llama or two llamas may be way too much for recent rescues and cause too much stress.
During the visit by the adopting family, I introduced them to all the llamas and explained the relationships they had and how the llama groups interact. It was clear to them the four had a strong bond. And, to my joy and relief, they agreed to adopt the herd of four. I will check in on them and mentor with great appreciation for the generosity of these new llama caretakers.
 
About Lynda & SWLR: Lynda has been rescuing and training llamas since 2009. She is presently a Director of Southwest Llama Rescue in Albuquerque, NM. During 2020, over 10,000 hours were donated by volunteers to accomplish rescue and care, feeding, medical care, and transportation (over 10,000 miles) of over 100 llamas/alpacas. Over 50 llamas/alpacas were placed in permanent homes, or re-homed, or into permanent foster care. Over 40 llamas/alpacas are in temporary foster care. Area of rescue included most states in the western US.
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Betsy Bell was one of the first generation of llama owners in New Mexico. She was a cherished member of the llama community who gave her dedicated love to her llamas that continues after her passing. As a dear friend, Director of Southwest Llama Rescue, Pat Little says, “Betsy Bell is everything Good”.  Born Elizabeth Rose Bell in 1938 the eldest of nine to Saul and Olive Bell. Her parents were the originators of the prestigious Saul Bell Design Award for jewelry design known worldwide. Betsy worked alongside her father in the jewelry shop and fostered her artistic nature and brought beauty into everything she did.

​Betsy shared some of her story with me on a fall afternoon in 2016. What she did not share was that she had stage 4 cancer and at that time would only have another 6 months to live. Betsy was a bright-minded original. She was striking in appearance, in her conversation, and her demeanor. She was quick to correct anyone mispronouncing “llama” to make sure one did not mistake the origin of these wonderful creatures. Betsy did things her own way, and was a pioneer in understanding how to work with llamas.

​In 1978 Olive saw an ad in Sunset Magazine showing pretty llamas that just said, “Llamas are Fun”. That got Olive and Betsy excited and they wrote a letter to Kay Patterson (who owned 500 llama in Sisters, Oregon and posted the ad)  inquiring how to buy llamas. Kay directed her to her customer in Pojoaque, New Mexico; Scott McCullough and Chet Smith (Scott’s ranch manager).  In 1978 Olive and Betsy got their first two llamas after some amount of cajoling given Scott’s initial reluctance to talk with Olive and Betsy. Betsy then joined the ranks of the first generation of llama owners in New Mexico,  Chet Smith and Don and Jodi Sleeper (Addis) and in Colorado Bobra Goldsmith and Howard Kerstetter (first president of RMLA), who were also friends. Betsy ultimately owned at least 26 llamas used for showing, training, fiber, driving, companions/pets, and breeding and  was the primary caretaker, trainer, and marketer. Betsy’s entrepreneurial spirit was unleashed with the opening of Campana Llama Ranch. She also began the Llama Lover’s Association of New Mexico and brought llamas and their folks together for large events of llama showcasing. 

​She organized and led the New Mexico State Fair Llama Obstacle course for 3 years.  Betsy designed wonderful logos for her Campana Llamas, Llama Lover’s Association, RMLA, and made her own letter heading artwork and calligraphic letterings for her correspondence (she started Llamagraphics in 1985) and llama marketing. Betsy was involved with llama rescue and she generously hand wrote every “Thank You” note to the donors of Southwest Llama Rescue (SWLR) for many years in her calligraphic hand. 

​All of her llamas were registered with the International Llama Registry and she gave operatic names to everyone starting with the first two: Rumpelstiltskin and Copelia. Other wonderful names included Rigoletto, Oberon, Candide, Scheherazade, Parsifal, Don Giovanni, Peer Gynt, Micaela, and Escamillo. Proudly Betsy stated, “In 30 years, I have never shorn any llamas – only brushed them. This keeps all the guard hair in place for the llama and removes only the fine fibers, which are then aligned nicely into roving to be sold to spinners.” Betsy would add a photo of the llama and calligraphed name and short story with each bag so the buyer could request “more of that nice Scheherazade, please” as needed. Daily, Betsy would call each llama forward for their supplemental feed (“nibbles”) to the brushing spot and they would eat while being brushed. This was also the routine for when they got their nails trimmed. Betsy was worried for the llamas who got sheared annually. She noticed that on even numbered years her llamas grew more wool than the odd years meaning they must have needed more wool then - perhaps for the harsher winters. So, automatic shearing might result in those llamas being cold for those winters where their bodies were generating more wool but it was being stripped off equally every year. 

​Betsy used the repetition and discipline from her ballet training and classes that she gave to children for years. She created and taught a class she coined, “Talk to the Animals” and demonstrated the benefits of interspecies communication. Betsy once wrote down the entire vocabulary she taught her llamas and counted 83 words! “One day” Betsy said, “I told Scheherazade (who kept playing with the water hose), ‘go through the gate, into the Run-and-jump [name for one of the corrals], and get a drink of water from the bucket’, and she did it!. After that, I tested the other llamas to see if they would understand and most of them did.”

​Betsy also enjoyed being part of a highly energetic group she worked with, the Enchantment Driving Society, who Betsy described, “were a thrill to be involved with; an event every month, in addition to their monthly meetings for 11 years! Rarely did they miss having something going on”. They drove llama carriages and organized events continually with energy and enthusiasm.  Betsy’s devotion to animals included volunteering at the Rio Grande Zoo where she worked with the llamas and alpacas. She ultimately designed her own halter that showed off their faces and fit around the ears. To Betsy, “a llamas beautiful face should be shown and not covered by the halter”. Her llama posters read, “Campana Llamas is one of New Mexico’s oldest herds with the North American, ‘Old Style’, Tall and Elegant llamas with enough fine wool to look beautiful but not so much that you can’t see their marvelous bone structure.”
To some people, llamas are livestock to be used. To others, llamas are pets to enjoy seeing in the field. To Betsy, llamas are like relatives to care for and love -- up close and personally. 

​The later generation of New Mexico llama owners that Betsy was involved with included the founders of Southwest Llama Rescue (2001) by FE Baxter and Pat Little who became very close with Betsy. In her later years, as Betsy was caring for her mother, the time came when she needed to find care for her llamas. She surrendered her last twelve llamas to SWLR and sent funding to provide for their care and feeding and donated her trailer hand built by her brother. 

Betsy’s sister, Molly, managed Betsy’s estate to her wishes which was to give generously to causes that Betsy was dedicated to.  We at SWLR are deeply grateful that most Betsy’s estate was given to SWLR in a trust to continue the mission of caring, advocating, talking to the llamas and educating people on the highest quality llama interaction. Thank you, Betsy, for who you were and how you continue to help us even as you are gone.