Cougar was killed February 22, 2010. Full grown at about 160 lbs and was dragged (drug?) over 150 yards, across the creek to a hidden area behind some trees. He actually was attacked the same time we lost our first alpaca 10 months earlier, we found him with several seeping wounds but no Maverick.

Cougar, age 5 dats



Cougar at age 11 months

Harry, Summer 2009

 Harry was killed February 9, 2010. He was killed and left behind while the cougar or cougars took Merlin instead. For any cougar behavior experts, this was completely ATYPICAL! Merlin was killed just over 2 weeks before and was definitely not fresh meat... the cougar or cougars came back about the following week to take Harry away. Made NO sense to normal stated cougar behavior.

Harry, age 2 days

It was at this time we got word a cougar had been killed on the next road over. A 128 pound male... actually, it was just before Sandman was killed, but still, in January. I may post the photos we have of this cougar but I wanted to keep these photos of the before the cougars.... when they were all still cute.

Merlin, November 2009

Merlin aka Goober aka fuzzball was killed at 4 months old in late January 2010. We were so distracted with dealing with cougars, lawmakers and cougar hunting laws, being stalked, etc... that I just didn't get him a definite name, though we liked Merlin best.

Mr. Sandman 2005

Mr. Sandman. HUGE alpaca! 200+ pounds! When we went looking for him, we were shocked he was missing. He was the most aggressive alpaca, dominant, strong... an awesome male! This one was really unnerving when we found him. What kind of predator was going to take this big a male and drag him off? The cougar, we figure, gave up and left him in a spot which was out in the open, about 40 feet from where it looked like he was killed, on a small earthen dam. We pulled him back off the dam to a place near a tree stand and a week later, the cougar drug him back over the dam. Sandman was out of Snowmass Expectation, who was a Drambouie offspring. He was killed January 2010.

Montana, an El Moustachio son, posing for his herdsire photo

Montana was a great sire! He shared his genetics of amazingly dense fleece and great color genetics to several of our offspring. We would breed his female offspring with Gatay and the density of the fleece was amazing. He weighed 175 lbs at the time he was killed, a good sized male. These cougars were only taking adult alpacas. We lost him December  2009.

Wilbur, age 3 months

Wilbur wasn't killed by the cougars, he was orphaned when Princessa was killed. He loved him milk but I wish his mom was still around to have fed him instead, she did a better job at it.

Princessa, she is the far right with white head and brown body

Princessa was killed September 2009. She delivered some cute babies and had a 3 week old guy on her side, we named him Wilbur, when she was killed.

Goose, 6 months old

Cougar (on left) and Maverick (staring at camera), November 1, 2006

I have been posting the photos in order of their cougar incident, but having the Top Gun gang together is important. Cougar was actually attacked when Maverick was killed, but Cougar survived his attack the first time. How, I don't know, but he did.

Goose and Ice Man, October 2006

Goose went to meet everyone born that year. He was very gentle and kind. We took him to the farm every day so he was integrated with the alpacas. When we weaned Goose, he became best friends with his Top Gun gang, which, incidentally were all half brothers as well, all being from our great stud, Gatay.



Goose at 1 month old, out at the farm.

 We don't live at the farm so Goose lived in our back yard. He was quite the celebrity and thought very highly of himself... and deserved every bit of it. His fleece was soft as snow, very dense, just a beautiful guy. His sire was Peruvan Accoyo Gatay, who was actually the sire to a lot of our herd.

Goose at about 8 hours old, September 2, 2006.

This was our precious Goose. He was born September 2, 2006 after his mom had a terrible tear in her uterus which ultimately took her life. Our vet worked for quite some time to save Goose but he just couldn't save Blue Mist. This was after we got Goose home. It was the beginning of his well known life. He went to schools, farmers markets and local farms to visit fans, which he created everywhere he went. He was killed in mid August, 2006, our second alpaca killed by a cougar.

Maverick in April 2007. He was 18 months old here, just before shearing day.

Maverick at 1 day old, October 2006

This is of Maverick, the first alpaca we lost to the cougars when he was 2 1/2 years old. He was 3/4 Peruvian, father was Peruvian Accoyo Gatay, a full Accoyo male from the famous Ppperuvian Auzengate. Maverick's mom was a Hemmingway Granddaughter. Maverick has incredible medium fawn fleece, super soft, amazing crimp and very dense. He was just sheared 3 weeks before he was killed.