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| Here's a wonderful "feel good"story. ~ Tracy duCharme - September 29, 2009
As many of you know, we are trying to find and rescue a lost little llama on the top of Pike's Peak. Marlise, Michael and I went up the mountain yesterday with their dear old llama Moon Shadow. We went up to the peak in their van on Monday, as soon as the road was cleared of snow, and hiked down a couple of miles to where the llama was last seen on Sunday night.
Unfortunately, there are hunters up there just now going after the sheep. The llama has been seen hanging out with the wild sheep, and we immediately saw fresh llama footprints along the train tracks. We were very encouraged at first, but although we saw the sheep several times, we never spotted our guy.
It was a beautiful day, and the snow is rapidly receding up there. There is plenty of fresh water all around, and still an abundance of forage, even up as high as we were. We know he survived the storm, so we are hopeful that we can find him. It just may take a few tries! Hiking down along the tracks was a breeze.
Hiking back up, on the other hand...not so much!!! I haven't gone uphill on a mountain at 14,000 ft without a chairlift very often!
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~ Tracy duCharme - October 2, 2009
Well, We went back up to the top of Pikes Peak today in search of the lost little llama. It was very cold up there today. It was extremely windy and the wind chill the rangers had posted was -2 degrees. I went with Mike Shealy and Kathy Wallace. Mike brought his llama Shasta, and I brought Autumn Dancer with me.
Dancer posed for the tourists on the train . 
A gazette reporter, and a TV news reporter from channel 11 came along for the ride. We walked along the cog rail tracks for about .5 mile, and then Mike and Shasta kept going down the hill while the rest of us turned to go back up to the summit. We had almost given up when I spotted him about a mile off the train tracks. 
Dancer and I walked down the tundra towards him until he spotted us.
And he came running! 
When he reached us I realized that he was just a baby. The halter I had brought along was just way too big on him, so I had to slip it down around his neck. He almost immediately tried to nurse, which Dancer (a gelding) wasn't having any part of!!! 
He followed Dancer right along. The only problem was that every time I stopped to catch my breath, he would try to nurse, and Dancer was good and sick of him by the time we reached the truck.
Good boy that Dancer is, he let the baby snuggle with him for the long ride down the mountain. At least when you're kushed there is none of that nursing nonsense! He was happy to say hello to my llamas over the fence.
 The sad news is that his ears are extremely frost bitten. I think they will fall off. He is the sweetest little thing. Not afraid of us, and so happy to be around llamas again. He is a little thin, but not dangerously so. He was out there on his own for at least a month, so I doubt if he was weaned before he was separated from his Dam. He has lots of nice silky white fiber. Even if he loses his beautiful ears, he is still a brave, playful little soul that will be a blessing to his herd.It feels great to have him safe in the barn tonight! ~ Tracy duCharme - October 3, 2009
The story was picked up by the Associated Press and has gone national. The phone has been ringing off the hook all day. It's crazy! Check out this shot my friend took up near the summit. I took him to the vet today, and she thinks he will keep his ears. I am so happy, his ears are darling. She said he is amazingly healthy, and probably only 7 months old. Poor baby! He is so sweet, great temperament, and nice confirmation. Mystery how a baby got way up there!
I still can't believe I got him. I am very proud of Dancer, because this was the hardest thing I've ever asked him to do. It was bitter cold, and the terrain was downright scary at times.
I love happy endings. Pikes Peak's Homer is quite the little celebrity.
~ Tracy duCharme - October 5, 2009
The most amazing thing has happened! We found Homer's family. The news story went National, and the owners heard about it while in Seattle!
We have learned that Homer lived on a ranch on the South face of Pikes Peak, about 3 miles from the summit. On August 15th, a mountain lion killed his mother. The ranch owners found the carcass of the mother, and feared the worst for Homer. They looked for him, or his remains for days with no luck. They never knew about the loose white llama on the mountain until they saw in the news that he had been captured! I spoke to her today and she is so grateful and amazed that he is alive and well. She said she used to choke up every time she looked at his fleece, thinking that he was dead.
She has asked me to board him for a while until she can decide what to do. She is uneasy about keeping llamas on her place now. This was their second llama lost to lions.
He is just the sweetest little thing! 
Llama ran away when mother was killed by mountain lion
October 04, 2009 8:11 PM
MARIA ST.LOUIS-SANCHEZ
THE GAZETTE
The mystery behind a baby llama roaming the rocky slopes of Pikes Peak for more than a month has now been solved. The little llama, dubbed Pikes Peak’s Homer by his temporary caretaker Tracy Ducharme, was traumatized and ran off on Aug. 14 when his mom was killed by a mountain lion. His owner, Theresa Kabot, told Ducharme that they searched the ranch, at the southern foot of Pikes Peak, but figured he had been killed as well when they didn’t find him.
Instead, the little guy was hanging out on Pikes Peak, where he charmed passengers on the cog railway and tried unsuccessfully to make friends with a herd of bighorn sheep. When Ducharme, a llama owner from Black Forest, heard his story she headed up the mountain Friday to rescue him. She brought her llama along, and Homer immediately ran up to them.
Homer’s rescue story traveled even farther than he did. He got so much media attention that the story traveled by The Associated Press to Seattle, where Kabot is staying for business. She called Ducharme as soon as she found out.
“They just sounded overjoyed that he’s safe,” Ducharme said. “They thought he was dead.”
Kabot sent Ducharme a picture of Homer and his mother, and sure enough, it was him. Ducharme will watch the llama while Kabot stays in Seattle for the next few weeks.
In the meantime, Ducharme is trying to help him gain weight and had him examined by a veterinarian. “The backs of his ears were frostbitten,and he probably won’t have hair on his ears, but he’s doing great besides that,” she said. “The vet said that any other kind of creature that would have been lost up there would have succumbed, but being native to alpine areas, he weathered it really well.” She said she couldn’t sleep Saturday because she was so excited that she found his owners. She said llamas bond closely to their herd and he will be excited to be back with his. “He’s had such a traumatic time, it feels great to have him so safe and happy,” she said. “It really feels like he’s home safe now.”
 Please share any newsworthy eventswith me. email me at 22llamas@missourillamaassociation.org | |
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