PRIZE WINNER: Niki Kuklenski and her champion llama, Isle Eagle, display the prizes earned in national competition. Isle Eagle is 9 years old and has sired 30 offspring. Kuklenski is a llama educator and consultant. PETE KENDALL HERALD PHOTO

(Reprinted from The Bellingham Herald - 12-21-03)

HOBBY: Kuklenski's Isle Eagle is a win away from being the most decorated llama in the nation.

As a youngster, Niki Kuklenski showed horses, pigs and sheep at fairs. But at age 12, she worked with her first llama and was hooked.

She and her husband, Jeff, now run JNK Ranch, which trains, grooms and selectively breeds the animals, and helps rescue others that have been abandoned or abused by their owners. Last month, her top performer, Isle Eagle, was named national performance champion at the Alpaca Llama Show Association grand nationals, an overall title based on points earned in four other classes. He also won the national pleasure driving class for the third time, using a custom-made cart made by Aaron Knight of Everson.

"I used to be into horses, but I think these guys are way more fun," said Kuklenski, 33, who now owns seven llamas and half-interest in an eighth. "They are really smart and fun to raise, if you get good ones."

Kuklenski was among the first children in the state to raise llamas as a 4-H project, and has been a 4-H leader in Whatcom County for about eight years, she said. On Sunday, members of Lluv-N-Llamas and their llamas will visit Bellingham Care Center on Birchwood Avenue.

"The kids dress them up and sing carols. We take the llamas right into the residents' rooms, if we have to, so people can pet them," she said.

Though Kuklenski started working with llamas in the 1980s, she did not own a llama outright until she bought Isle Eagle in 1997. Now, he's one win away from being the most decorated llama in the nation, Kuklenski said, and he's also a top stud, with more than 30 registered offspring.

Isle Eagle trains at BB Stables on Smith Road under owner Barb Hento. Though the animals are used as livestock in high altitudes of South America - raised for their meat, fiber and manure - they make great show animals, Hento said.

"Basically, what I did was helped her polish and refine him. It's kind of like driving charm school," said Hento, a nationally certified judge of show horses.

"With a horse, they will just explode if they get upset and can get a real bad reputation, whereas llamas don't get upset as quickly. They are a lot more forgiving," she said.

She said watching Isle Eagle's composure in a ring is impressive.

"They are quite a team. He's a neat animal and the bond between Niki and Eagle is unreal. That's what it takes to get to that caliber she's at."

Besides caring for her own animals, Kuklenski also is a board member of the Alpaca Llama Show Association and Llama Rescue Net. In the latter capacity, she helps find neglected llamas and arrange new homes for them. The agency recently settled a lawsuit against an Olympia woman who killed seven llamas through neglect.

"There is a real lack of training and education," Kuklenski said. "There is a whole group of people who are mass producing llamas, and they don't know what they are doing. Typically, people think they are going to make money breeding llamas and then they are stuck with 10 to 20 animals, and nobody wants them."

She said the animals need special care - they must have their toenails trimmed and get sheared regularly, for example - but make good pets, as well as show animals.

"Not everybody is cut out for this type of work," she said.

Reach Jim Donaldson, Hometown editor, at jim.donaldson@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2288.