I wanted to talk to you today about rescuing Camelids, it's something I have a strong passion for. Llamas, alpacas, camels, and other similar animals are in the Camelid order.

I have 3 llamas which I got through the Southeastern Llama Rescue Association. They rescue llamas from people who abandon, neglect, or abuse them. They place them in foster homes, that's how I started out. You have to fill out an application to be a foster parent. The organization will pay the vet bills for the animal. You are expected to get it healthy and friendly so that it will be ready for an adoptive home.

You have to pay $250 to adopt a llama. You sign a contract that if you ever decide to get rid of the animal you will turn it back over to the rescue organization. All animals in the program are either gelded or classified as non-breeders. This is to make sure poor quality animals are not used for breeding. Because I'm so young they let me set up a payment plan to adopt my llamas. I make $10 payments whenever I get extra money. I only have 50 more dollars to go on Bucky, the first llama.

Bucky was an overgrown "lab rat" at Auburn University Vet School. They sold him at an auction where the organization bought him for $10 and rescued him from becoming dog food! Can you believe that?! That's really what they do with unwanted animals that go so cheap at auctions. After they rescued him from that vet school they paid over $300 to send him to the University of Tennessee Vet School to get healthy. Now you see why you have to pay to adopt them. The organization needs a lot of money to care for them. Some animals are in such bad shape that their vet bills will go well over $500.

The other 2 llamas I got were actually in good shape, they were just abandoned. The owners boarded them at a farm and never paid their bills. After 2 years they were just given to the organization.

Now I want to talk some about alpacas. There is no rescue organization for them...just little ol' me. There was a man in Charlotte whose farm sold so quickly that he didn't have time to sell his alpacas. The females were taken by someone and sold on consignment. But there were 14 intact males all in one pasture. They had gotten very aggressive. The owners were older and they hadn't handled them much so they weren't even halter trained. I helped round them up into a big trailer where a breeder I was helping examined each one and gave them their dewormer shots. I got to choose 2 alpacas to bring home. I chose "Got Milk?" because I thought his white mustache was cute and his name was perfect since I have dairy goats. Fudge seemed to just hang right around him so I decided I wanted him, too.

I've done so much work rescuing camelids that the word got around and people in other states have even heard of me. My parents were called to see if I could come rescue an alpaca who'd been wild for years in TN. He looked a little odd to me but I thought that was because he'd never been shorn. It was very unhealthy for him because of so much weight. Since it was close to winter we had to leave a reasonable coat on him, so we stopped on the way home and bought giant hand shears. It took all day Saturday for my dad to hand shear him while I gathered the fiber. I sent out before & after pictures of this alpaca to my mentor. She told us of a lady in TN a long time ago who crossed an alpaca and a llama. Now I knew why he looked odd! He's half llama and half alpaca. Most breeders thought that was very irresponsible breeding. I had him gelded so he won't ever breed.

Rescuing these animals isn't cheap. I had to pay myself to have the alpacas gelded. The vet gave me a good deal and only charged me $75 each. However, that's a lot of money for a little girl like me. The vet did the surgery and let me pay him slowly as I got the money. It took me a whole year to pay him off for the first 2. Then, as soon as I got them paid off I rescued this last one which was so aggressive that he had to be gelded right away. So the vet came out again and I'm in debt again!!

ALLIE STUMBO