Three alpacas reported severe neck and face injuries after at least one dog (a brindle pit bull) savaged them in a field in Bartley in the New Forest.
Their owner Bryan Sears took them to a vet in Hythe where they were treated and they are now back at the farm to recover after having five hours worth of surgery.
“It’s a miracle that they’re still alive. Likely I got there and took them to the vet. One of them almost lost an eye,” Mr Sears said.
The three alpacas were with their flock when they have been caught by at least one dog. The rest of them managed to run away while the three were caught in the corner of a gateway, last Thursday.
“Alpacas don’t have a chance against dogs. They are not made to fight,” Mr Sears explained.
The three are now being treated with antibiotics.
“It will take a long time to recover. Another one was attacked at the beginning of October and it is still recovering. It only just had stitches taken out,” Mr Sears said.
Mr Sears did not have time to look for witnesses from the nearby building after the attack happened since they all left for the Christmas break but Hampshire Police were called to the scene and are investigating.
“I don’t want this to happen again. People shouldn’t allow dogs to come around,” he said.
The alpacas are said to be on the mend according to Petlake Alpacas of the New Forest.
A spokeswoman said: “They are doing remarkably well, the first night we thought we were going to lose two of them."
The attack came two months after the alpacas were previously savaged by dogs.
The spokeswoman added that one of the dogs who previously attacked them had been seen in the area.
She said: “We had a dog attack two months ago one of the dogs from that was destroyed, but the other one is still around and there were reports it was seen nearby in the past week.”
The spokeswoman added: “People have been very very generous.”
JustGiving fund link: "Alpacas care and recovery"
On Thursday 22th December 3 of our Alpacas, Oberon Arragorn and Theo suffered horrific injuries to their throats and faces when they were attacked by a dog. All 3 survived 5 hours of emergency surgery although it was touch and go for Arragorn. Please help us to raise funds to pay for their care and ongoing vets bills. You can follow their progress on our facebook page Petlake Alpacas of the New Forest. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated
Thank you everyone for you support and overwhelming generosity, the target is a guess, vets bills will probably exceed it but if after they've recovered we have any left we will donate it to an alpaca charity. 2 days after the attack Oberon and Arragorn are both still loosing fluids through their wounds and we are still very worried about them. Theo's wounds seem to be less severe and he seems coping much better. We will keep you updated with how they're getting on.
Unbelievably we just caught the dogs chasing the alpacas again!!!! a Jack Russell ran off but I caught the brindle Staffy (Staffordshire pit bull terrier) and I was there before andy serious injuries occurred. The Police responded immeadiately and have take the dog away. What will it take for this owner to keep his dog under control !!!!
Very worried about Oberon this evening, he's very shaky and weak, still not able to eat properly, but his lip does seem to be gradually getting less droopy, Theo's Cheek wound is leaking some cud still, Arragorn is stable at the moment so please keep them in your thoughts.
