You probably haven’t heard about it but the Montana Large Animal Sanctuary http://www.mtanimalsanctuary.com/ lost their primary financial benefactor and went bankrupt last month leaving 1200 large animals (horses, donkeys, over 600 llamas, buffalo, cows, sheep, goats and 2 camels) facing starvation with less than 3 days of food or hay in bitter cold and deep snow. For reasons I will never understand the operators did not speak up and ask for help until the situation was desperate.
I don’t know why or how things got this bad – the sanctuary operators are probably going to be charged with animal cruelty and abuse – but right now animals are still dying every day of starvation and cold. Initially it was reported there were over 800 llamas spread out on this 400 acre ranch but only around 600 have been rounded up and herded into feeding pens. One volunteer said she was afraid to think what would appear once the snow melts.
Animeals http://www.animeals.com/ got involved early in December and has been on site coordinating bringing in over 6 tons of hay needed per day. Various horse and other rescue groups have taken most of the equines, sheep and goats off the property and into their rescue network for needed veterinary care and rehoming. http://www.kaj18.com/news/volunteers-trim-rescued-donkeys-hooves/ but that still leaves hundreds of llamas & 2 camels in the cold and snow. Llama babies (called crias) are being born and dying because their mothers are themselves too emaciated to nourish and warm them. On-site rescue volunteers are doing the best they can – building shelters out of tarps! – but the need is to get these animals out of the Montana facility and distributed to better locations where their health needs can be assessed and tended.
Various regional llama and alpaca rescue groups have formed a coalition group to coordinate their efforts and dollars toward saving these suffering animals. Most of these are small regional groups of volunteers for whom a large rescue would be saving a herd of 10! Yet each group is stepping forward to take in up to 100 llamas (plus 2 camels!) to rehabilitate and rehome. The need for financial support is huge.
The cost for transporting 100 to North East Llama Rescue alone is over $4,000. Transportation is being arranged to bring about 30 females (pregnant or with cria at side) to a volunteer foster farm in Georgia for South East Lama Rescue.
Quote from http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/sanctuary-lost-death-in-the-montana-mountains/
This was the promised land. This was sanctuary
A short time later we pulled up to the actual sanctuary. The grounds are magnificent, the scene of the snow covered mountain, the 
low hanging clouds, the beautiful buildings all spoke of a perfect place. Then the cover started coming off. Like a fairy tale turning into a horror story, it took a moment to see 600 llamas standing behind a fence in a large pen. Six hundred of them, six hundred faces looking back because there was nothing else to do but stand there and look, and poop and stand in the poop and look some more. Separated by sex, the female llama pen is where the babies drop, lots of them, because the llamas were not gelded (I don’t know if you call it gelding or not with llamas). Most of the babies don’t survive, but they all have the same hay as the horses – which is worthless.
I support South East Llama Rescue but would encourage (beg!) anyone who reads this and feels moved in their hearts to kindness to give whatever amount they can afford to ANY rescue group working to save these poor suffering animals.
Please join me and put your $$ where your HEART is.
Thank you
Starr 1/9/2011
Tags: alpaca, animal abuse, animal cruelty, llamas, rescue, starving
