Llama Rescue: the First Four

The tiny corral Daisy and Dalai were living in.

A young Daisy in 2010.

Dalai right after her professional shearing in 2013.

Suki after her professional shearing in 2013.

Letta trekking with Suki behind in the Sandia Mountains

Its been a long time since I had some time to write about all my llama adventures. I am now going to log all the llama rescues and re-homes here.

​My very first llama rescue was how I got started in being a llama caretaker. Daisy and Dalai were my first rescue from my home town Gardner, Colorado. I knew nothing about llamas then and learned much later that they were about 18 months old. It was February 14, 2009 when I picked them up and a great Valentines gift! I found out these llamas were born in Gardner on a farm owned by Lynnette and Jessie Klienschmidt in July 2007 and the dams and sires came from Florissant, CO - a heard of hundreds of llamas (!) Dalai came from a dam named September who died but she was the protector of the herd. (That matches Dalai's personality and the protector). There was no mention of Daisy's lineage but they were born at the same time.

​My intent was to foster care for these llamas and find them homes. In learning about llamas and working with Daisy and Dalai, I completely fell in love. They are in their forever home with us.

​My second llama rescue was the llama I call Suki. Her name was Aspen when I got her. She was born in Pueblo, CO May 2004 and her Sire is Graham and her Dam is Vaska both residing at 40th Lane. In Suki's case, she was living with a lot of other animals and economic times pushed the owners to try to find a home for her. I brought Suki home on July 4th 2010 - another Holiday! Suki recognized Dalai as a leader and although Suki is larger than Dalai, she looks to Dalai for protection. Suki seems to be jealous of the relationship Daisy has with Dalai and often pushes Daisy around by trying to intimidate her and spit at her.

My third rescue was my forth female llama; named Isleta. Now we call her Letta. Her story was that she was used for roping/lasso practice somewhere in the South Valley outside Albuquerque. she had also belonged to Lynn Kaufman who was rumored to have ILR papers for her. I never met Lynn or saw the papers but the guess was that Letta was 13 years old when I got her on Oct 30, 2010 (happy Halloween!). She  had been previously rescued by some nice folks in Corrales, NM (Tom, Dale, and Rachel Taylor) not far from where I live. they were alpaca people and were looking for a home for Letta. A common friend (Jasmine Tritten) told me she was very pretty and sweet and really needed a home and I had better take her in! So, I picked her up, brought her home, and she quickly re-built trust in people.

​Until 2016, these were the only llamas that I kept. The next post begins the rest of the rescues that I found homes for.