Owners grateful that llama is safe at home after roaming for 19 hours

CANADA -- Louise the llama is back in her barn after escaping on Tuesday and running free around Quispamsis for about 19 hours.

Valerie Kaser said the family's seven-month-old llama slipped under a gate when the family wasn't home and had been wandering in the woods around the town.

The llama proved to be poor at hiding. She had been spotted at several spots around Quispamsis, including a sighting with some local deer.

 

 

Kaser said a neighbour spotted Louise on Wednesday morning and called the family to try and capture her.

"We tried to keep her out of the woods the best we could, but she did eventually make a break for it and got into the woods but she got herself into a clump of trees," she said.

"We kept closing in and closing in and closing in. And at the last minute she thought she would make a break for it but my husband football tackled her."

Kaser said Louise is now back in the barn where she will remain until she's trained to stay with the horses in the paddock.

The great escape happened on Tuesday when the family went out.

Kaser said they had thought twice about leaving their new llama, which they purchased in Amherst, N.S., a few days ago, in the pasture for the afternoon.

 

 

But, in the end they decided she would ‎be fine with their horse for company.

Apparently, Louise had different ideas and it decided to slip out of the Kaser's pasture.

Kaser said they didn't notice immediately that the llama was missing until they received a call.

"They said, 'Do you have a llama because we have one in our backyard.' But by the time we got there, she had been frightened off into the woods," she said.

But the llama, which was wearing a red halter with a grab handle, wasn't exactly camera shy while on the lam.

Jacob Lozier took cellphone video of the llama trotting down the road on Tuesday evening in the Meenan's Cove area of Quispamsis.

Kaser suspected the llama was likely grazing in the woods around the community and was urging anyone who saw the llama to call her.

"I don't think you can really lose a llama in Quispamsis. If someone sees her, they will know that she shouldn't be wandering by herself," Kaser said.

"Because she is young and hasn't been handled a lot, she is timid. If you approached her slowly, there is some possibility that you could get a hold of her. But it is more likely that you would frighten her."

(CBS News - Sept 2, 2015)