I got these from our neighbors Marla and Tiffany; Marla managed to capture more of the llama rescue on her cell phone camera. Thanks Marla!
In the first photo, Dan had managed to guide the llama to a place where she could stand up, even though she was still in the water. But, at this point, she was not budging, and Dan was trying to manage the canoe, too. So three guys, including Kirk, rushed down to help in knee-deep cold water.
Once they discovered the llama was not going to walk on her own, and was acting pretty submissive, they decided to flip her into the canoe and see if they could tow her towards the road. She acquiesced pretty well, you can see here she’s mostly lying on her back in the canoe with her legs sticking in the air. By this photo, they had her close to the road and to the edge of the water. One guy, I think it’s Lee, is kneeling over, his back was killing him from all the lifting, and I imagine he was very cold!
Next they flipped her back out of the boat by rolling it over on its side. She was shivering, and pretty mentally checked-out by this point, so could not be convinced to stand up and walk on her own. You can see seven people helping in this photo, and there were several dozen more people on the road, many offering assistance and equipment. Ah, all our neighbors are obviously farmers and animal lovers-nobody could stand to see an animal in need!
Lastly, here is a photo of one woman pulling on her leadrope while four guys lifted and carried her to the road. I helped lift her from behind part of the way too, until I went to get the van. Uff Dah, she was much heavier than I thought she would be! Once at the road, we were able to lift her into the side door of my cargo van so that she could sit kushed comfortably in the back and warm up. 
Friday night update: Dolly Llama is doing fine so far. My mom reports she’s gotten her “attitude” back, and is quick to flatten her ears in annoyance when anybody comes into her stall! She’s eating hay and grain and seems to be alright. I imagine she’s bruised and sore, but she seems to be walking fine, so amazingly, nothing is broken!
I’ve been reading your blog for a couple of weeks now and just thought I’d check in and say “Hi!”
I’m glad your llama looks like she’s going to pull through.
Thanks! She sure is a lucky girl that we have so many great neighbors! I am so relieved!
Michelle
Amazing rescue! Wonderful people and probably a very frightened llama.
We have 17 llamas & 2 alpacas, most rescues and some with “attitude” like Dolly, especially when they were new here.
Please get to know Dolly. There is treasure inside her that she will share as she learns to trust you.
PS We also have a Border Collie. Love them!
Please feel free to contact me if you want to know more about llamas. I don’t know it all, but I have great llama friends and contacts.
treasureacres@comcast.net
AMAZING!!!
Thanks Kathy! Oh my goodness, 19 camelids, wow! I am sure learning that they aren’t like other livestock! One “horse person” neighbor had brought down a whip in case that would help us get her moving– which, for a horse, I suppose in an emergency like this, might be a reasonable choice to get the thing walking where you need it to go. But I’m glad we didn’t have occasion to try it, as I bet ol’ Dolly wouldn’t have responded to that at all! :-0 She is no pony, I have to keep reminding myself of images of Arabs cajoling their camels through the desert…
I think we will try to keep her and work with her for a little while longer and see how it goes. The aspect I’m struggling with is whether it’s irrresponsible to, because if we don’t manage to tame her more before the next flood (which could still happen this season), we could be endangering her again, and that’s what I feel badly about. But, if we’re lucky and it doesn’t flood for another year or two, that might give us more time to help her adjust and learn to move with the sheep and the dogs. She’s not a pet for us, her job is guarding the sheep and lambs, so I don’t want her to become a major time and training investment. But if she just needs more time to adjust, we can work with that.
When I shopped for a llama, I considered buying one from a “show” person, knowing that they would have invested considerable time already in taming, lead-breaking it etc. and that I could be sure it was a quality animal. Those seem to cost $800+, and that’s not much more than a livestock guardian dog would cost, and is worth it for the investment someone else has put into the animal. But, what I had concluded was that there are so many unwanted llamas out there, and we don’t need a pretty show quality one, or a young breed-able one, that maybe we can just serve as a rescue home for ones in need. And that was somewhat Dolly’s situation, so I was feeling good about giving her a good home in her “golden years.” Until this!
Michelle
i LOVE llamas!!!! blessings to all who saved dolly llama!!!
Thanks Annie, indeed, what a bunch of kind people who helped out- it was definitely not a one-man job! It seems like that’s what happens in the flood though, neighbors just come out of everywhere and offer to help without hesitation. Some of those same people went down the street that night and loaded up another neighbor’s 30-some sheep to move them to another farm, and probably got wet and cold again!
Michelle
how is dolly llama doing? hope she is well.
that alpaca farm near mt vernon went out of business and they were giving away alpacas for free. wanted one but hubby said no.
The llama is doing fine, she’s back to her wiley ways out in the pasture, we can’t catch her again! :-{ I’ve been trying various techniques, but haven’t solved the poblem yet.
Wow, free alpacas. So much for all the money people were going to make off them!
Michelle