Dear HCN,
Those of us who regularly
pack with llamas were dismayed by the condescending nature of Hal
Walter’s essay (HCN, 8/19/96). This burro packer’s diatribe against
llamas is fraught with misinformation. For example, Walter states
that he has never seen a llama perform well when carrying over 40
pounds. I regularly put 80 pounds on my llamas and have packed with
100 pounds over 11 miles with no
difficulties.
Walter says that when two llamas
entered the burro race from Fairplay to Leadville, one dropped out
and the other “was still on the course long after most burro racers
had showered.” In fact, the finishing llama came in fifth out of
approximately 30 entrants, thus beating over 80 percent of the top
burro racers in their own race.
Walter asserts
that llamas eat as much as equines of similar size. I have both
llamas and horses on my property. In my experience, although llamas
weigh about one-third that of a horse, and four llamas need less
pasture than a single horse.
Next time you
publish an article on pack animals, please make sure the author
knows what he or she is talking about. Then, hopefully, we wouldn’t
see another of Walter’s driveling essays grace the pages of an
otherwise fine
publication.
Peter
Butler
Durango,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline What drivel on llamas.
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