Here at Alpacaly part of our mission as a Social Enterprise is to rescue unwanted alpacas and llamas, and we don’t like to reject any animal based on their behaviour or health issues. We always try our very best to rehabilitate and have had some great results over the years.
Malcolm is an example of an alpaca with serious behavioural issues due to mishandling in his early years, and his owners had reached the point where they could no longer deal with him. He is very aggressive with humans and also dominant with the two smaller males he lived with.
We will take it very carefully with him and see how we can improve on his relationship with humans and other alpacas, and hopefully over time become more relaxed and comfortable. We wouldn’t usually take an alpaca for a walk by himself, but in this case with Malcolm being over confident, we decided to try a little walk out with just him and Terry as part of his ongoing training.
Once the quarantine tests are done we will introduce him to a larger herd of confident, well balanced males which should greatly improve his behaviour, as he learns from others and is no longer the alpha of a very small group. We’ll keep you posted on his progress!
Transcript
EP.1:
Hi guys and welcome to Alpacaly Ever After and our very first video diaries series, exclusive to YouTube! So yeah guys, in this series we’re going to be looking after Alpacas, we’re going to be rescuing them. we’re going to be giving them some rehibilitation, we’re going to be trekking them over these mountains, might swim with Alpacas, your going to get to meet the guides and the day to day runnings of Alpacaly Ever After and the world famous Woolly Army. So please join us, like subscribe, leave lots of comments and get involved so yeah guys, I hope you enjoy this series. Episode 1 Starting
Hiya Malcolm… Heya Buddy… Hello buddy
Okay yeah, no problem
So that was interesting, uhm I’ve just had a phonecall from a lady over in the North East and she’s found out there’s an Alpaca in the Highlands, that needs help that needs rescuing. So I’m going to get back to the office, find out more details, but his name’s malcolm. And the reason he needs re-homing is he’s aggressive, he’s got bezerk behaviour, uhm I’ll tell you more about that as we go along with this erm but yeah for the time being, basically i’ve got to speak to the directors. we’ll see what’s best for Malcolm, how we can help him, we need to get him quarentined and check his medical history before he get’s down here. So I’ll head over to the office and tell Emma what’s been going on.
And hopefully yeah, we can get Malcolm down here and find out what’s wrong with him. And more importantly train him uhm and make him happy again.
So let’s get over there.
Malcolm!
So here he is, the trouble causer
The one that everyones scared about
So the first thing you should do, this is a bit of sort of a warning. This clucking noises is a warning. He might get on his back feet so get bigger than me because i’m actually higher than him at the moment. If that is to happen, I will get higher than him. So a lot of this, getting Malcolm back on side and to trust people and to like people yeah it’s trust, we’ve got to treat them right erm, he’s got to get to know us. and he knows, just make him learn that I’m here to protect him. Not the other way around.
So let’s see if we can get a bit closer without him spitting, we’ll have our hands up, he might get on his back legs a little bit. like this. If he does. I get higher.
Hiya Malcolm
Loosing balance
So we just get this high to show him that I’m the boss and not him. You want them to look up at you. Basically I have the high ground.
The other two boys are not named
We’ve got to get them checked over but yeah they’re really nice and calm
Malcolms just being a bit protective over him
Hey Fella!
So that clucking is to say get away he’s the boss
And yeah, I’m going to try and get in with him, push him back a little bit, if he pushes me, give him a little nudge and keep walking forward really
If I keep doing that, try stroking him, giving him feed. treating him properly. Taking him on nice walks, get him to know me. He won’t do any of this, you’ll see the change this is her first day here.
So yeah. let me jump in.
Hello Fella, you okay? back up
And all i’ve got to do is baby steps, walk forward.
So you’ll see these Alpacas naturally move away when I go forward. That means they recognise me as the Boss, but obviously Malcolm dosen’t
So with Malcolm all I do is, he comes over to me
He might do a bit of clucking
That’s it and I stop
Hold out my hand
Hello Fella
Hello
So that’s an air blow, so people think actually thats a spit but it’s not. That’s just a blow saying get away from me
Erm but yeah, all we do is a little bit closer
And all this is guys is babysteps, everyday just getting him to know us. I’m not going to put him on a lead straight away or teach him how to walk on a halter, he’s not been walked on a halter before.
So i’ll probably do this next week, I’ll start walking with him, every day just a little bit, come in and get him to know me, show him that i’m not scared of him. And just keep following him round, and what i want him to do is to walk away from me
just like that
So this pen is actually a bit of a training pen we’ve got. I know it’s muddy because it’s winter but um yeah we have woodchip down here, nice and soft on their feet uhm yeah and this is where we train them, where we start to introduce ourselves to them.
hello
hello
good lad!
that was pretty good!
So the first thing i’ve got to do is stop this clucking when he see’s me
He dosen’t want to see me as a threat, he want’s to see me as his friend
So I think that’s enough for today, it’s an introduction to me erm we’ll start bringing the staff down one by one, getting them in the pen, showing them how to handle Malcolm because he is a little bit intimidating, expecially when he gets on his back legs. But yeah, I think he’s going to be okay.
Before you know It, he’s going to be walking and paddling in the lake.
Right, let’s get off
Guys! guess what?!
We’ve only got Malcolm on a lead
His first time out ever!
So the last few days i’ve been practicing with Malcolm, putting head collers on him, walking him around the paddock , and look at him now! his first day out!
So yeah guys, join us on this little walk, im going to take him to the lake, show him the lake for the very first time and erm, give him some treats, and show him around lingholm estate
What is this lake!
Just seen two canooes
So this is the first time he has ever seen a lake
Can’t believe his eyes
Especially two cannoeists
So, this is Derwent Water
What do you reckon?
Oh my God
What do you reckon?
Oh my God it’s huge innit!
So yeah, he’s doing awesome, first walk out guys. He’s got a lot to take in, he’s done absolutely brilliant. Going to try and get him to go into the water in a minute, do you want to have a walk in? come on
Alpacas generally don’t go straight in.
Come on buddy you can come, what do you think of that?
Wait until I tell the team!
Good boy Malcolm! Good lad!
I know
He dosen’t like the cannoeists, check out the cannoeists
Good lad
So i think that’s enough for Malcolm today, lot’s of big steps there.
I wan’t him to get used to walking on the grounds, get used to walking on a halter
And yeah he’s left his buddies which is a big step.
Makes him feel a little bit vunerable so he’s sort of a little bit worried, but apart from tht he’s doing brilliant.
So we’ll head back, get him back and that’s enough and yeah, he can go and see his buddies and calm down, we’ll give him some treats!
Right Malcolm, are you ready? Come on this way
There’s his buddies!
He done well guys, his first walk, we’ll take youse tommorow, so we’ll let him back in, let him off and he can tell his mates about the big adventure that he’s been on
So guys, that went really well, his first day out, got a little bit spitty half way through, he saw a couple of animals that he didn’t recognise like a dog, a squirrel and a big peter rabbit
so yeah. he’s back home safe and sound, we’ll do that again tommorow and we’ll just go further each day.
We’ll take his buddies with him next time.
Another day done.
