Hey, who stole Martin?????

....And replaced him with a brown and white alpaca???????

This afternoon, Martin was at the back of the pasture and didn't come when I called him. I could barely see him because of the brush and hilly ground. I decided to give him more time, so I waited until it was almost dusk before trying again to get him to return to his pen for the night.

In the fading light I could see a big brown and white animal. Was there another animal in the pasture? Or was Martin injured? Was that blood on his back?

Hurriedly, I grabbed his grain as enticement and move rapidly down the path toward him. He seemed to be moving toward me, but slowly, and kept turning his head around to mouth his hindquarters. I knew the llama next door had been injured by an unknown animal several weeks back and visions of trying to find a suitable vet who would make a housecall on a Friday night gave me the shivers.

And then, as I got close enough, I saw that Martin was caked in now-dried thick dirt all over his saddle area and hind end. There's not really any mud in the pasture, so he must have stood in the pouring rain and then rolled in the dust beneath the tall tree where he used to live before I came to this property.

So now I have quite a challenge. I wonder if an alpaca will fit in my tub?

Dirty Martin

The two-toned alpaca

Martin in his cleaner days