Despite an untreated infection that is causing her great pain, Daisy the llama is surprisingly “mild-tempered,” according to Dee Martens, manager of Kensington Prairie Farm in Aldergrove.
“She’s so sweet,” Martens enthused.
“I think she knows we’re trying to help her.”
Kensington Prairie Farm, which raises alpacas and llamas, was called by the BC SPCA on Nov. 8 to retrieve Daisy, who was suffering from an untreated tooth abscess that had left one side of her face so swollen she couldn’t see out of her eye.
Martens described the conditions at the other farm as “deplorable.”
“Daisy lived in a field with metre-high, dead grass and an active burn pile,” Martens related.
“Once we finally caught her, we realized how skinny and terrified she was.”
READ ALSO: Business is good for Langley alpaca farm
A veterinarian who X-rayed Daisy reported that the abscess has caused a break in the bone structure in her face and she would require major surgery.
“The pressure and pain that Daisy must be feeling is heart-wrenching, ” Martens commented.
Despite that, the llama is so good-natured that Martens has felt safe letting her one-year-old son, Porter Milton, lead Daisy about her paddock.
Daisy is getting antibiotics two times a day, as well as inflammatory and pain medicine.
Once she is better, she will have company in the form of some other rescue animals at the farm, owner Catherine Simpson said.
“She can go with the other old grannies,” Simpson added.
Daisy is the latest llama in distress to land at Kensington Prairie Farm.
In April, at the behest of the SPCA, nine llama and five alpacas were rescued from another farm that had purchased them in order to qualify for farm status, but didn’t shear them, something that Marten said is essential.
They had such a weight of wool that they had to be tranquilized for shearing after they arrived at Kensington, Martens recalled.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: Spring shearing at Kensington Prairie alpaca farm
Revenue from Kensington Prairie Farm admission and tour will still support a children’s charity in Peru called Quechua Benefit but in the future a portion will also be devoted to the rescue animals, Marten explained.
“We have become such an active rescue support system in the lower mainland,” she said.
A GoFundMe campaign “Dollars for Daisy” hopes to raise the $3,000 toward the cost of her surgery.
“We do not know yet the total cost of surgery, as they will not know until they get Daisy on the operating table,” Martens noted, promising 100 pertcent of the proceeds will go to help Daisy’s recovery.
“No animal deserves to be neglected like Daisy,” Marten said.
“Let’s change the way we see livestock animals.
Simpson and her husband started Kensingtion in 2000, in an area of Surrey historically known as Kensington Prairie County.
They began with a dozen alpacas, and the number quickly grew to more than 30 animals before moving to Langley in 2006, expanding Kensington Prairie Farm from five to 45 acres in the process.
In addition to breeding, raising, and showing Huacaya alpacas, Kensington also raises registered Hereford cattle and produces artisanal honey.
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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