Cycles of Life

It is a sad day for us here at Blue Heron Prairie. This morning we discovered our beloved llama Zamoro had passed over during the night. It came as a shock since he showed no sign of illness. He was 12 years old which doesn't seem terrible elderly to us. However, our experience is that they are senior citizens by the time they reach their teens. He came all the way from California to live with us and be a herd sire. The guy was so mild mannered with the ladies that he never produced offspring. Llama breeding is kind of humourous and the girls will protest a little bit during the courtship process. Poor Zamoro seemed to get his feelings hurt with our more assertive females. We tried him out with several of our girls and I guess it just wasn't meant to be, the chemistry just wasn't there. It is amazing how time slips away and our babies are now elders. I remember the day Zamoro arrived, he had hitchhiked cross country with a group of llamas on their way to Missouri. He was very handsome and stately.

On the brighter side. With the ushering of one life out of the world, new life entered. Last night around 9 pm three little bunnies were kindled. It was so cold that I decided to take the nest box away from Mom and keep the babes safe and warm inside the house. It worries me doing that (i.e. interfereing with nature) but this morning when I returned them to Mom she hopped inside and promptly nursed her babies. Once their bellies were full of milk I brought the nest box inside the house to keep them warm. So far so good. This is Mom's first litter and it is so remarkable how they know just what to do.