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In January of 2011, a disaster occurred within the llama rescue community. Six hundred llamas and various other species were left to starve and freeze in the Montana winter. This event, now termed the MLAS (Montana Large Animal Sanctuary) Rescue, is being referred to as one of the largest animal rescue situations since Hurrican Katrina. One hundred of those llamas were rescued by, and shipped to, Northeast Llama Rescue and Barnyard Sanctuary. Many of our supporters have been following our blogs and Facebook page, our Tweets, and our other updates, since the situation began. If you would like to catch up on the information to date, please visit the following links. There you will find photos, videos, updates, and links to news coverage, both television and newspaper. The animals arrived in terrible condition. They were "body scoring" (muscle cover, fat layers, etc) as a "1 or 2 out of 10". As Wes told Jerry Gretzinger, during an interview for CBS channel 6 news, "That's practically dead". One llama did not survive the trip from Montana to NY. Another barely made it, and though he did his best to survive, finally succumbed to his long-time neglect a couple of weeks after arriving. On February 17th, the wonderful vet department of Cornell University sent a couple dozen vet students and several veterinarians, under the guidance of Dr. Mary Smith, to NELR. The llamas were literally "put through the chute". One at a time, each animal was led into a holding chute where it was examined by the veterinarians and students, its microchipped scanned, a quick photo taken, and any necessary medical situations addressed. Although the llamas were supposed to all be geldings, according to the agreement with the group handling the rescue on the Montana end (who were absolutely wonderful, by the way), six animals managed to slip through the check-in with testicles. As Wes said, "It wasn't anybody's fault, it's cold in Montana in the winter." The fabulous vet students of Cornell took care of that little problem in good order. Those animals who were not geldings, now are. The following pages introduce you to the individual llamas of the "NY-100". There are also several llamas, all older females, who had been rescued from a different situation not long before the Montana animals arrived. They are so noted in their descriptions. We apologize that the photos are not all stellar, but as the light changed in the barn, the camera decided it didn't want to autofocus, so some of the pictures are not sharp. In addition, when they have their heads stuck in the bars of a restraining chute to receive vaccinations and worming, llamas aren't exactly in the mood to "say cheese". You will note that the last five digits of each microchip number are in bold-face. Please use this number when referring to any animal on the site, whether you are interested in adopting, sponsoring, or just have questions. For animals without microchip numbers, you will find other ID numbers that you can use to identify llamas in question. If you are interested in adoption, our print-and-mail adoption applicathion can be Downloaded Here. Meet the NY-100 Llamas |