MAINE -- Police and animal control officers continue to search for a pair of dogs that attacked and injured a llama Friday evening.
Ivan Smith, owner of Snafu Acres, said he found two dogs attacking Abra the llama at about 4 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The llama suffered deep puncture wounds and tears to his lips, ears, nose and neck.
Smith said he believes the dogs were pit bulls — one black and white, the other a solid color with a blue tint.
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| Abra, a 20-year-old llama at Snafu Acres in Monmouth, is recovering from injuries sustained last Friday when he was attacked by two pit bulls. |
The 20-year-old llama was recovering and “seems to be doing fairly well,” Smith said Sunday night.
While he tried to keep the dogs away from the bleeding animal, a green SUV arrived, apparently looking for the dogs. Two occupants got out, and Smith said he shouted, “Get the dogs in the vehicle.”
Which is exactly what the pair did, before driving off without so much as asking what had happened. “They knew, judging from their reaction, that something had taken place,” Smith said.
Efforts to locate the dogs and their owners by Monmouth police, animal control officials and Smith have so far been unsuccessful.
“We had a few people come forward. Most of them were dead ends,” Monmouth Animal Control Officer Mike Costello said.
The attack “was pretty gruesome. There was quite a lot of blood,” Costello said. The owners of the dogs will be charged if found, he said, adding that officials must determine whether the owners have proper licenses for the dogs.
Abra serves as a guard llama, keeping watch over chickens out to pasture and scaring off coyotes and other potential predators at Snafu Acres, which produces free-range eggs and grass-fed beef, among other products. Llamas, which can stand up to six feet tall, are sometimes used to protect flocks of sheep on other farms, Smith said.
While llamas tend to approach unusual or unknown things, Abra was in a protective shelter when the dogs arrived on the farm, Smith said. Smith found dog prints inside the shelter, but the llama had escaped the shelter and was in the barnyard when Smith arrived after hearing Abra make a distress call.
“Generally, they're very quiet, unless there's something taking place,” Smith said.
Smith and his wife, Nancy, have created a Facebook page for the injured llama, allowing well-wishers to follow his recovery.
"He's getting up there" in age, Smith said. But after talking with the veterinarian who treated Abra after the attack on Friday again on Sunday, Smith said, "He's still optimistic, and so are we."
(Lewiston Sun Journal - Jan 3, 2011)
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Corey Lamontagne had $15,000 worth of crack and heroin, police say
Already saddled with accusations of drug dealing and tractor theft, a local man was arrested over the weekend after drug agents searched his home and said they found $15,000 worth of cocaine and heroin.
Corey Lamontagne, 34, of 2 North Mountain Road, was arrested on charges of drug trafficking, aggravated trafficking and violating conditions of release.
Maine Drug Enforcement agents have been investigating what they describe as a large drug distribution ring operating across Androscoggin County. As part of that investigation, agents and Maine State Police troopers went to Lamontagne’s home early Sunday morning.
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| Corey Lamontagne |
A search of the home and outbuildings uncovered more than a hundred grams of cocaine and 40 grams of heroin, according to MDEA Supervisor Matt Cashman. Lamontagne, who was home at the time of the search, was arrested and jailed.
It was not the first time he has had such an experience. Lamontagne’s criminal history is extensive, including convictions for cocaine dealing in 2000 and 2002.
Two years ago, he ran into trouble when his two pit bulls attacked a 20-year-old llama at the Snafu Acres Farm on Tillson Road.
Police say Lamontagne’s legal woes continued in April when he stole a tractor from Wallingford Machinery in Auburn. Investigators say his plan was foiled when he tried to sell the Kubota tractor to undercover drug agents.
Lamontagne was charged with theft when he rode the tractor out of the woods wearing a backpack police say was full of drugs, which were later tested at the state health lab in Augusta.
It was determined that Lamontagne had been carrying 22 grams of cocaine, 14 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, 58 Ecstasy tablets, 375 tabs of methadone and 76 of the painkiller Dilaudid, investigators said.
Lamontagne was charged with drug offenses when he went to court on the matter of the stolen tractor. He was free on bail over the weekend when agents searched his home and arrested him once again. By Tuesday, he remained jailed on $10,000 bail.
On the latest charges against him, Lamontagne is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 2.
