Convergence - Drama in the Classroom - Life and Death with Alpacas

Were you in Maureen Foss' tutorial on "Successful Felting with Alpaca"?   

Maureen was in full flow explaining the intricacy of including alpaca in your work when her phone rang.  It was her family letting her know that there was an alpaca emergency back on her farm - one of her lovely alpacas had gone into labour prematurely and there were difficulties with the birth.

Maureen had to leave immediately (leaving Kerry to improvise and finish the tutorial) and drive home to take charge.  Unfortunately the baby did not survive.

Worse still, the mother's health declined after the birth and she lost weight dramatically.  A visit to the vet was arranged and mommy alpaca secured on the back of the trailer.  She seemed fine but between arriving at the vets and the trailer being parked she died.  The autopsy showed that the poor alpaca had a huge tumour in her abdominal cavity.

But there is a happy ending to this sad story.

Another of Maureen's alpacas has given birth.

Photo - Shane Foss

This is their new baby Carmen with her mum Chelsea. 

Carmen is Chelsea's second baby or we should say "cria" which is the correct term for a baby alpaca.

Maureen says "it's great to have another girl to add to our breeding herd, the second for this year, plus two boys so far.  We had a run of 12 boys in a row prior to this".

Photo - Shane Foss

If you want to include alpaca in your felting work you can purchase high quality product from Maureen's farm  - Rock View Alpacas.