A topic we need to discuss

Alpaca Public Service Announcement

I’m sharing this from another alpaca farms website. It is very informative.

There have been a lot of cute videos of a young alpaca interacting with his owner, playing in the park and sitting for a manicure circulating on FaceBook and other social media sites lately. The animal is cute and playful and the footage is endearing to those who do not understand normal alpaca behaviour. Because the videos are being shared on really large platforms and accounts where millions of people are seeing and sharing, the general public is being misinformed about what responsible alpaca ownership and normal alpaca behaviour look like. I have received numerous calls and texts from well meaning, yet ill informed folks who now wish to acquire an alpaca as a pet.

While I have no doubt that the young man and his family are good, caring people and they are trying to meet the physical needs of the animal, they are not meeting the animal’s social and emotional needs and the long-term health of the alpaca is being placed at risk. Further, what this young man and many others do not realize is that that given the way the animal has been imprinted, it will likely become a behavioural nightmare in a year or two and sadly, the situation is likely to end with the animal being euthanized as it will become too dangerous for people to care for.

So I share with you some basic facts in the hopes that you can spread the word about what is normal and not normal in the life of an alpaca. And, should you visit places where there are young alpacas, please keep these facts in mind when you interact with them.

**Alpacas are not pets** While they are a domesticated specie, they were not bred to be companion animals. They were bred to be livestock and provide a clothing and food source for their shepherds and their families.

**Alpacas need herd-mates**. In their native environment, alpacas live in large herds with complex social structures. As a prey animal, living in a herd provides added protection from predators. To ensure their survival, they are rotational sleepers. That is, several herd members are awake at all times and act as herd lookouts. When alpacas are forced to live alone or with one or two herd mates only, the animals are forced to be at a heightened level of awareness. This added stress can create ulcers and other health issues.

**Alpacas are not inherently cuddly** With enough time and the right reinforcements, you can train just about any animal to appear “people friendly”. The fact is, that alpacas have personal space issues and mostly do not wish to be touched. Don’t take it personally – they don’t like other alpacas invading their personal space either. If you watch alpacas carefully, you will see them turn their heads and raise their noses, often times spitting at herd mates who are just too close to them. Alpacas however, are very curious and you can train them to tolerate touch and walk on a lead. Most alpacas would much prefer to sniff your face (that’s how they greet one another) but the minute you put your hand out to touch them they will likely turn away. You will enjoy alpaca interactions best when you respect their space and ensure that they respect yours.

**Finally, and most importantly *****imprinting young alpacas is dangerous****
Over socialization of young alpacas is incredible dangerous to humans. Having a baby or young alpaca follow you around and play with you like a puppy, looks like a lot of fun. Given the opportunity and encouragement, they will be dutiful companions and playmates for several years. But it comes at a tremendous cost. It takes several years for alpacas to reach adulthood. Animals who are over socialized with people when they are young grow up without boundaries and believe that humans are part of the larger alpaca herd. They do not learn that people are not alpacas. This becomes especially dangerous when you over socialized little boy alpacas as when they reach maturity their carefree, playful behaviour changes and they become aggressive towards their keepers. They now either wish to mate humans or fight them. These circumstances are so well known that there is a syndrome named for it, Aberrant Behaviour Syndrome or Berserk Male Syndrome (BMS). Neutering has been suggested as a modification; however, this has not been shown to be 100% effective. More often than not, these previously cute and friendly juveniles will end up being euthanized as young adults as there is limited success for effective, long-term rehabilitation.

I encourage you to review the podcast and resources below. The video is long and some of the information is anecdotal only, however, it provides excellent examples of what happens with alpacas that are mishandled when young. It includes several videos that have circulated social media in the past and like the ones with the boy, most casual viewers see these as cute or funny. They are neither.

The moral of this long post (and I do appreciate you reading this far) is that alpacas are farm animals. To be the best version of themselves, a number of things must happen: they need to live among other alpacas; young animals need to live with adults to learn appropriate alpaca behaviors; and, humans need to establish and enforce boundaries when dealing with juveniles and young adults.

If you have been to our farm, you will know that we educate our clients about the importance of establishing and maintaining boundaries. We often advise our clients to not engage with our babies for the reasons noted. Alpacas are wonderful animals to farm and we enjoy sharing them with our visitors. However, our first priority is that they are cared for in a way that promotes optimal health. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please feel free to share to or ask any questions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk_llama_syndrome