Ice - The NZLA Rescue
By Julie Insley

On setting up the Association, our first aim has been to educate owners and interested members of the public in the needs, care and welfare of llamas. As we all know, you need to keep at least two camelids together for their mutual mental welfare. Unfortunately, some slip through the net and don’t come to our attention until they really need help. Such is the story of Ice.

Early August when an e-mail from Elise Atkinson of Levin arrived with the subject line “a 9 year old llama called "Ice"” the puzzle began. Who was he, where did he come from, how did he end up in this situation?
Elise got a call from Vaughan Steed. "Do you want a llama?" Massey University have a rescued (via the SPCA) llama called Ice, an entire 9 year old who came from somewhere in Northland about 9 years ago as a birthday present for a chap. Apparently he had lived all that time without camelid company but had a goat as a companion, he hadn’t been handled since he arrived there 9 years ago and they had no facilities to do anything either! When Massey went to pick him up, they didn’t know what to expect as the SPCA staff had said he was fighting with other animals, but Vaughn found him very docile once they cornered him with ropes. He was responsive, he haltered easily despite having had no handling in 9 years. Sometime in a past life he has been well handled and trained. The property he was living on was a real hazard, old wire, bits of concrete and steel sticking up out of the ground, Vaughan thought he was lucky to have survived the property itself. He hadn’t been ill-treated as such, but never shorn, drenched, 5/1’s, or had his toenails done. The man was
reluctant to let him go, but the wife wanted him to go and live with other camelids. He duly arrived at Elise’s who initially thought he was a real dude.

Then in early October I got a distressed e-mail from Elise saying come and take Ice away or he's for a hole in the ground. “He is a crazy no brainer… today he is in my small race so my boys can have a break.... he's been de-teethed and nutted now… but still CONSTANTLY all day attacks my
alpacas… makes them stay in a corner..... got them all in today and my animals are literally standing there quivering, they are all in such a wound up state of fright. I feel sorry for him in between hating him for the disruption and daily angst he has brought to my property and stock.... he goes over, through and under fences.... he attacks and fights anything.. and he doesn't ever STOP.... he just pushes and pushes.... I really think he is a bit mental. But he is nice and polite on a lead… OK with people.... but tries to kill my dogs… and the neighbour’s cattle thru the fence.”

I immediately rang Elise as I know how stressful it is to be in the situation she described and we talked about Ice's problems. Of course I said that I would take him, I certainly couldn't see him euthanised without giving him the opportunity for his testosterone levels to go down and his brain to start working. The intention was to rehabilitate him and socialize him with other llamas with the hopeful outcome that he could be placed in a suitable long-term home. Fortunately I knew Lance Morley was coming back from the Canterbury show and that I could get him as far north as Auckland where Peter could pick him up in the van, so the arrangements were made.

Even though we set out to rescue a llama that is not quite how I would describe what turned up. Penny and Peter couldn't stop laughing when they rang me to tell me about him when he arrived in Auckland. He would be at least three/quarters alpaca, and the only thing llama about him is his long legs. Although Elise assures me he looks more llama with his fibre on.

Ice had travelled up with Llamie and Cyrus who were coming to me from Christchurch. They had bonded incredibly in a short time, to the point where Cyrus jumped back into the yards to go and rescue Ice from Peter who was trying to herd him into the yard. This happened right in front of the potential new owners of Cyrus and Llamie and so I told them Ice's story and they asked if they could take him also. These are a couple from Kaitaia who have just retired from a lifetime of farming, who have a real love for animals and who would like some interesting animals on the remaining few acres for the grandchildren's enjoyment. These are practical, experienced animal people and I just couldn't see separating these guys now, so I have agreed and asked for a donation to the rescue fund, for his transport and said that he would need to be returned to the Association if they no longer wanted him or if he became difficult. Their new home will be ready soon, they are just building yards and a shelter and will be making visits to learn how to halter and care for their new charges.

We had a lovely surprise when we received the invoice from Lance Morley for the transportation of Ice. It was only $56.25 - Lance wrote "Seeing it's for the Association, instead of $150 we'll make it $50. Have a great festive season!" So a big thank you to Lance for his support of the Association and Ice.
I would also like to thank Penny King for her three years work on the calendars and all the members who support it, this has enabled us to build up the Rescue Fund for just such a situation as Ice. Through donations and 05 Calendar profits of $153.02 the rescue fund gained $208.00 in 2004 and with 06 calendar profits of $391.3 and 07 profits of $223.32 plus other donations the rescue reserve fund had a total of $856 before Ice’s rescue and will be no worse off at the end.

Ice has been nothing but a pleasure to have here, he is easy to halter and lovely to lead even by small children, I am very glad we could help him and I will follow his progress with interest and keep you updated.

By the way he is deaf, so we wave in greeting.

Shearing, A Story
By Anne Thompson

To those of you with weak dispositions I apologise for the following story. For many of us it is nigh on impossible to get a shearer out to our llamas, besides, they look gorgeous with fibre cascading down to the ground (well, to many of us), and we don’t want to spoil that look. But there are compelling health grounds for regular shearing, and the story below is a very good case study in support of this.

I recently acquired a very sweet natured older llama who had done his public service and was ready for retirement. He is a nice fella, and coming from some of the older Chilean lines, had a very full coat. I am pretty sure that he had not been shorn in years, if ever, as his fibre hung down to the ground. Luckily this year our weather down here has not been great, or he would have been a contender for heatstroke. With this in mind I made shearing my first job on him. Removing the years of growthrevealed a patch of dry scaly skin on his topline, and pink rashes on his front joints. However, this was nothing compared to what we found at the rear end.

As we got to the top of the tail the fibre opened up to reveal a huge mass of green faecal matter. With the help of a pair of rubber gloves we released a rugby ball size amount of dung. The smell was
absolutely indescribable. Scissors were used to cut out the worst of the fibre, which had lumps of dung the consistency of stones entwined through it. And when all the lumps of faecal-sodden fibre were removed our lovely boy was left with a bare bottom caked in filth. How he had not got flyblown I do not know. The flies were probably put off by the smell. A sponge soaked in warm water was used to try and clean the last few clods from his buttocks, and to remove the caked on dirt. As we cleaned him up we found a couple of small sores, which will be looked at by our vet when she comes to remove his fighting teeth tomorrow. We had to leave some of the matts around his rear end until then, as he was loosing patience after an hour and a half of shearing and cleaning. All this may have been avoided if his previous owner had shorn him on a regular basis. There have been stories of unshorn llamas having barbed wire caught in their fibre for years. Think of the damage that could have done as the llama moved about or rolled in the dust bath. As our membership grows we are developing a really good map of New Zealand. If you are having problems finding a shearer why not email someone near you and see what they do? There are mobile sheep shearers who will shear llamas. Maybe you could all get together and make it worth their while to spend a couple of days in your area.

If you have a really wild llama (and don’t we all have one of those!) the vet can always administer a tranquilliser, which would allow you to do toenails at the same time. Feeding pellets sprayed with Rescue Remedy can be calming, and if push comes to shove you can even blindfold your llama. Fiskas scissors can be used (they come with a sharpener) if you have the time; they do a spring loaded scissor which is gentle on your hand. But whatever you do, for the good of your animal, please do not allow any of your beloved animals to get into the same state as this lovely old boy.