Rescued alpaca thriving in foster home

When Rochelle Steffens of Mac's Mission animal services saw a group of people in September at the corner of Mount Auburn and William Streets in Cape Girardeau trying to sell an alpaca, she called Dawn Flickinger.

Flickinger runs Yearning 4 Yarn, a knitting supply store downtown. She also operates an alpaca ranch in Perry County, where she has 35 alpacas. She was happy to foster the animal.

With a little veterinary help, she was able to help the alpaca, which she named Unicorn, recuperate from its health problems.

Two months later, Flickinger said the animal is healthy and happy.

The alpaca had sores on his hip from being made to ride in the back of a cramped passenger van, along with fleas and a halter that rubbed his eyes to the point of injury.

A woman tries to sell her group's alpaca at the corner of Mount Auburn Road and William Street on Sept. 23 in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

Flickinger said nobody knows for sure how his previous owners got Unicorn, and their stories didn't necessarily add up.

Unicorn's ear appears to have been tagged at one point, which leads Flickinger to suspect he was procured illegally, possibly from a large-scale alpaca farm.

"There were six or seven adults with an alpaca, a puppy and, from what I've heard, a ferret all in that van," she said. "But now he's doing fantastic."

He's partially blind in both eyes, Flickinger said, but he's not alone.

"Our littlest alpaca was born blind last year," she said, referring to Jupiter. "But Unicorn has started helping her with things. If she gets separated from the herd or something, he'll go and stand with her."

A group of Dawn Flickinger's alpacas munch on treats from her hand Sunday in Uniontown, Missouri. The alpaca in the far right corner, Unicorn, was rescued in September from a group of travelers making their way from Kentucky to Washington state.

Because male alpacas can be territorial, Unicorn -- a gelded male -- lives with females on Flickinger's farm. She said he loves it.

"You'll see him out there sometimes in the middle of the pack, just looking like the most macho alpaca around. ... We took his halter off [the first day], and he threw his head up and was smelling, following his nose around," she said.

Then Unicorn pranced away, she said. "I just started crying, I thought, 'Gosh -- how long has it been since he's gotten to do what an alpaca's meant to do?'"

An Alpaca's age typically can be determined by their hair, but malnutrition had made Unicorn's unhealthy.

Flickinger believes him to be 5 or 6 years old, and his hair is in much better condition now. When he's shorn next year, his fiber will be spun into yarn, dyed rainbow sparkle and donated to Mac's Mission to be auctioned.

He won't be with the Flickingers forever. He'll be adopted as soon as a suitable family can be found, which Flickinger said should be soon.

"The community has been so great," she said. "Mac's Mission helping us get him and Rainbow [the Labrador puppy from the van], and Jackson Co-op donated a bag of alpaca food for him. It was pretty much a community rescue."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627