Our Herd of Beautiful Rescue Llamas & Alpacas
(black ‘paca with milk mustache. Born 2003). Caitlin Tastee is our sweet ancient alpaca lady. She’s the Eeyore of the herd—once a fancy suri show ‘paca, she was purchased for $48k. However, we rescued her from southern Maryland. Very sensitive, very emo. If you knew her well, she would cry easily, wear a lot of black, secretly wish to be noticed. She loves coffee shops, Billie Eilish, and Slyvia Plath. She needs a lot of words of affirmation and counselling. She used to have beautiful crimpy buttery fiber. If you feed her organic baby carrots, you have to gently insert them into her mouth (small please), like a slot machine. And Figgy can’t be nearby or it’s just not worth the llama drama.
Photo by Kate Blohm.
Elfie Fay Von Picklesprite (Born October 2017) is the little fairy nymph of the bamboo forest. She’s the youngest alpaca of the herd and is constantly in trouble for snatching choice hay bits out from under the nose of an elder. She was our impulse rescue at the auction, as she was adorable and her legs were naked from a red mite infestation. We got her at auction in March 2018 Her street name and alter ego is “Lil’ Nibs” because if you’re feeding her baby carrots and are not fast enough, she will nibble you for more, please. She has a hip hop album dropping soon. It’s not very good, but she still has a decent fan base. Probably won’t win a Pulitzer anytime soon. Drives a Jeep Wrangler.
Photo by Joy Cannis Photography.
(estimate birth year 2014) We rescued poor, neglected gorgeous Campari (she has platinum ringed eyes and the finest eyelashes on planet Earth) at the horrible exotic auction in September 2020, sporting years of matted coat growth, horrible overgrown toenails (she could hardly walk), parasites, and she was very thin.
Campari was not at all trusting, terrified, shell-shocked, and very nervous. As time passes, she has rocketed from her shell with a orange passion for her daily grain and baby carrots. A hand touching her lower chin or back is no longer a life and death matter. She will now come in hot, peering into your soul with her gorgeous orbs, imploring you for a carrot donation that you MUST have in your pocket. On a really sweet note, she volunteered to be little orphan Llrya’s mama. And even developed milk for the orphan baby, inspiring Kara to write a children’s book called “Mama Llama Love.”. If Campari was a person, she would drink a fair amount of wine for her anxiety, take life too seriously, not stand up to bullies, and lash out when things got too stressful.
We pulled Llyra the Naughty” out of the auction, a little orphan baby girl. We don’t know what happened to her mama but she was too young to not be nursing. We thought we would need to bottle feed her but a magical thing happened. Campari, also from the auction, stepped forward and claimed the baby as her own and even came into milk, inspiring Kara to write a children’s book called “Mama Llama Love.” You can buy it here, on Amazon. Or get a signed copy in the gift shop. From the auction, Llyra had a hernia, heart arrhythmia, and was full of parasites. (Estimated birth day: May 2020) As a baby, she was a little ballerina, llama doggie. As a young adult, she is rather entitled, has moved back to the basement, gets fired regularly and bounces from job to job. She laments her lack of popularity and spitting is her hobby. She’s constantly perfectly her technique.
Beautiful Zora the Magnificent (aka Zora Zoo) was rescued from the exotic animal auction on 11/4/2022 and she is a guanaco (wild llama). She’s the aunt to little Rio. We thought we were purchasing Rio’s mama, but the auction mixed up the animals and a month later, we figured out the error and were so sad. (Now we realize she was meant to be here with us). Zora came to us super terrified & feral (and with a shiv she fashioned herself). She bashed in three men’s heads at the auction, with zero remorse. We spotted homemade tats leading us to believe she was in a street gang (common amongst guanacos). We choose to not ask questions, serve her grain on fine silver, fan her when the temps rose, and told her she was safe, protected, and adored. She now tolerates Kara and allowed her to shear her two years in a row. Kara lived to tell the tale. Zora speaks 4 languages, has the wit of a late show host, and drives an Aston Martin.
Photo by Joy Cannis Photography.
(estimated birth year 2015) Llama Mia Figaro (Figgy) is our party llama rockstar empath. We rescued her from the auction March 2018 along with her son. We bought them together so the little boy wouldn’t end up in a petting zoo and berserk. (Look up berserk llama syndrome). Figgy’s passion is healing people and as a llama yoga instructor. We think her empathy comes from (ironically) abuse—dragged her by her ears and an ill-fitting halter. Nickname is “The Figlet” and she will try to eat all of the carrots. When we first rescued her, she was angry, crazy, and terrified. She came to learn she landed in a sweet spot and turned her frown upside down (okay it was more her ears) and became the Walmart Greeter of the Treehouse. She has her own Instagram @figgy-llama. Her empathy continues to evolve and she’s begun to touch people that are going through hard things. Llamas typically don’t touch people. She’s drives a Suburu.
Born 2004, Sunny Shevoun is one of our older suri alpacas and she’s blind despite seeing an ophthalmologist for the last few years. She’s a beautiful shy girl with gorgeous silky fiber. She is “fawn” (light beige) colored with unusual grey skin and was one of our original alpacas rescued from Maryland. If she was one of your friends, you would have to be careful what you say. She might take it the wrong way. She likes to read, in the sunshine. She dislikes parties and she drives a Honda Civic. She’s absolutely gorgeous, registered, and part Peruvian. Photo by Joy Cannis Photography
Photo by Joy Cannis Photography. (bay black): Paloma Piper (Bolivian, born 2002 ) is a super geriatric camelid, a genius, and incredibly outspoken. She might scream if she doesn’t get the coveted spot at the dining table Also, screaming is therapeutic and why does one need a valid reason to shriek? She often quotes Shrek: “Better out than in.” She used to be the Queen before Dali arrived and she still considers herself HRH. She’s a pedigreed, purebred Bolivian suri alpaca, which is rare. She’s can open cabinets, trash can lids and break into locked gates. She might be older than Stonehenge, but she still runs like “the house on fire” to her dinner. Paloma used to be super naughty, but age has mellowed her slightly. Bank robbing is in her past, now she just cheats at bridge. If Paloma was one of your friends, she would be the one that talks on her cell while she drives too fast, steals your man, takes the law as suggestion. She was one of our original alpaca rescues out of Southern Maryland.. Paloma drives a Tesla S way too fast. She mostly forgets to charge it and borrows a friend’s car without asking.
Photo by Joy Cannis Photography.(estimated birth year Sept 2014) Dali Llama is the calm Queen of the herd and has tiny ears, fabulous permanent eyeliner--one eye looks like the “Eye of Horus.” She can be super sassy and judgy but has excellent posture, poise and confidence. She was formerly owned by “the meat market man” who took llamas to slaughter. We pulled her from the auction in September 2016. She was too beautiful (and more valuable at auction, thank goodness). When we rescued her, she had three years of fiber growth, was terrified and feral, neglected and was thrilled to get that massive coat removed. She’s highly intelligent, curious, and will peer into your soul. If she was a person, she would be a psychic medium or a judge who used her talents for the betterment of the world. Dali drives a Lexus.
Sweet Rio was rescued on 11/04/2022 and was approximately 3 months old at gotcha date. She is a guanaco (wild llama). There are only 200 in the country and most are in zoos, so they are super rare. Rio is a Disney princess/Butter Biscuit hybrid of sweet shyness, carrot addict, bouncy cheer captain and complete love muffin. I refer to her as “Mama’s Baby” because she is full blown adored. She has a face that should be in motion pictures as the beloved girl next door. She has learned how to assert herself and her attempts at spitting are just precious. When you can spit and still be precious, you’re doing something right. She’s taken up curling and has her eye on the Olympics. While she only has a learner’s permit right now, she hopes to get an electric mini cooper if they start to make them.
