LAMA WORLD CATALOGUE

Sue Mackenzie of Mirrabook Alpacas

meets

FIDEL

Surprise arrival to llama Jenny's Delight on 22nd October 2008

!Did not realise she was pregnant to our guanaco SAO!

Did not believe h could after many, many

unsuccessful attempts to get his guanaco girlfriend Theresa pregnant.

Fidel is the image of his dad - at first sight pure guanaco -

but on closer inspection maybe a bit heavier and with thicker fleece.

WELL DONE

SAO & JENNY^'S DELIGHT

ANWEN BIRTH LIKE VERY FEW OTHERS

30th December 2008.

Poor Yasmin (page 8 Female Section of CATALOGUE). We had seen nothing like it before. Neil, our vet from Bomaderry Vet Clinic, had only seen it in horses and cattle. We want to disbelieve but the photograph proves it. New female cria Anwen was stuck trying to get out of her mother's womb. The pair must have been like that for an hour - maybe/probably more - before we found them and we thought at first it was just another breach birth, dangerous but comprehensible. It was when we touched the cria's head to ascertain she was still alive that we realised this was no ordinary breach. While the head was hanging out of Yasmin's vulva, the legs had penetrated her rectum and were pushing out of her anus. It seemed worse because the neck was twisted. The head should have been looking up at her feet whereas it was pointing to the ground.

What followed maybe bodes well for 2009. The weather was clear, still, sunny and warm. There was no trouble catching Yasmin and bringing her into a small yard and Neil, at this busy holiday time, was with us within half an hour of being called so that whereas we expected to lose at best either Yasmin or the cria we have both still in the convalescent yard/ward with mum eager to join the herd on the other side of the fence and introduce Anwen to everyone.

31st December 2008

All seemed to be well. Anwen was following Yasmin and seemed to be feeding from her. We had expected blood and guts galore the previous day but our only problem was Anwen's two front ankles. They appeared to have been stressed in the manipulative process of extricating her with the result that she was walking on her ankle joints rather than the pads of her feet so today we have strapped them with little splints to aid the healing process and help her to reach those precious milk filled teats. We'll take them off in a couple of days to see how she is going.

Special thanks to Sue Mackenzie of Mirrabook Alpacas for her guidance and support.

Roll on 2009

New Years Day 2009

2pm.

She was sitting and sitting. Yasmin, in the caring yet impatient way of llama mums, after sitting beside her daughter for a short while moved back to the closed gate and closer to the herd encouraging her daughter to follow and meet the mob. Anwen urgently tried to obey but could only do so on her knees. She stumbled about five steps before collapsing. After that it was more sitting and sitting sometimes head horizontal sometimes head slightly back and half closed in a very hot sun. We moved her into the shade cast by the shed manually moving her legs and then helped her to stand to ensure she could and reach the precious milk that mother had in abundance. She was not interested. We left Yasmin sitting with her.

7pm.

We returned to find Anwen still sitting near the shed though in a different position indicating she had moved. Yasmin was restless by the gate but hurried up to us when we knelt down to the cria. It was then we noticed that when we waved our hands across her eyes she did not blink. We started to fret and wondered whether she was getting feed but when we inserted a finger in her mouth we found it warm and she sucked. We told each other she'll be right and were about to leave her for the night thinking she had had enough handling and would suckle when she was ready and we were not around to watch as so often had happened with other crias at other times. But then we thought we should give her something before we went home to make sure. So we milked Yasmin and put the milk in a small bottle with a rubber teat and we offered the teat to Anwen to suck squeezing it so milk would dribble out and the contact encourage her to take more. She refused repeatedly twisting her head away.

Maybe she had enough and she is feeding when left to her own devices. Let's go.

One more go. Lets put the milk in a syringe and squirt it in. Have to be careful we only get it on to her tongue. Don't want it going into her lungs.

Anwen did not lick or respond and the fluid dribbled out.

We now, with syringe, put drops of Yasmin milk in the tiny well of the lower jaw below her tongue. She just let it lie there. There was none of the customary lip movement and ripple down her throat as she swallowed.

Let her be

The wind suddenly got up really strong so we thought Anwen would not be able to stand to drink even if she wanted. It was getting dark. We carried her from the soft green grass to the hard but sheltered particle board floor of the shed where Yasmin followed. We left them there for the night hoping, fearing ...

2nd January 2009

6.30am.

Rigor mortis long since in control but on first sight relaxed her ears cocked alert and apparently asleep. Anwen was dead.

Did we say Roll On 2009? Not like this please.