Sometimes the things we have to do for the animals under our care go above and beyond our wildest dreams. When farmer John Govin, of Govin’s Meats and Berries in Menomonie, Wis., made his to-do list for the day, we doubt that rescuing a week-old cria was in the plans. He tells his followers on Facebook:
“The baby is a week old and it always comes with its mother when I feed grain in the evening. Saturday I searched for her because she didn’t come in to the yard the entire alpaca herd was lying around the hole when when I started looking again Sunday morning. It was really strange to see because she was entirely underground when I first saw her.”
The baby alpaca’s head was poking above the ground, and it was apparently stuck in a badger hole. Unable to pull the baby out, Govin grabbed his shovel and dug out the cria while the mother watched anxiously. Fortunately, it only took a minute or so to free the baby. On slightly wobbly legs, the baby, who the Govins are considering naming Dusty, reunited with its mother and all is well.
Govin told ABC News that alpacas love to dust bath, and the baby alpaca was probably rolling around in the dirt when this predicament happened. Fortunately, the baby was found in time—24 hours without fluids can be critical for a cria, but the Govins report that its doing just fine.
