Death of baby llama hits 4-H community

  • By Tricia Flickinger
  • August 19, 2010
  • 262
                        
Most people enjoy looking at baby animals, especially at county fairs since there is usually an abundance of animals to see. Unfortunately for one animal owner at the Holmes County Fair, what he thought was a good idea, didn’t turn out to be what he had planned for. “It’s sad for the kids and I can’t believe how much it has affected everybody, 4-H kids especially,” said Jim Schafer, member of the llama committee at the Holmes County Fair. Schafer was the owner of a two-month-old baby llama, along with many other llamas in the llama barn. That all changed on Aug. 18, when the baby llama died. It is believed that on opening day of the fair, a 13-year-old male was messing around in a couple of different animal barns. Schafer said that the kid supposably was showing off to a group of friends and he came into the same cage as the baby llama and its mother and started kicking it. “The veterinarian said it had a couple of bruises, but nothing too dramatic that way,” Schafer said. “It died from destruction in the bowel. That can come from sickness or stress and he thinks it was from the stress after this incident. It hasn’t acted right since it happened.” Since the baby was in the same cage as its mother, she did try to protect him as mothers always try to do with their babies. “The mom spit at the kid, but missed him,” Schafer said. “She was protecting her baby from the stranger. She is very devastated, of course.” After people around in the llama barn saw the kid in the gate, they tried to get him out. Sheriff deputies made the kid exit the fair the day of the incident, but even though he was to stay out the rest of the week, Schafer said he spotted him again on Tuesday. “ I walked up to the front of the barn, just checking gates, and I saw him,” Schafer said. “I thought it was him and I yelled his name and he came right over to me.” This time, the deputies made it very clear that he was not to return to the fair. Schafer said the veterinarian came back Wednesday to check-up on the baby, but unfortunately it died around noon. “We called down to Ohio State and they were going to take it down there, but then it died,” Schafer said. “It’s just unfortunate all around, even for the kid,” Schafer said. “He’s only 13-years-old. We brought it up here because everybody likes to see a baby. I didn’t really want to, but my wife did, so I finally gave in. Everybody seemed to enjoy it. I can’t believe the amount of people that came to the barn and said how sorry they were. I had people coming over to check on her everyday. News travels fast I guess, but people are really sympathetic about it and it’s sad.” Schafer said he didn’t know what was going to happen next regarding the young kid, they were working on figuring that out.


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