John has an affinity with alpacas and as we were leaving Moffat heading out of Scotland, we found and Alpaca Centre. It is a beautiful farm with a shop and cafe which for a pound lets you have a visit with their alpacas. Originally, they had over 80 in their herd (or whatever the collective term is) but a large number had been boarded out at a neighbouring farm when it was discovered that they had foot and mouth disease among their cattle. The owners of the alpacas were not even permitted to visit them before they were euthanized as it would have contaminated their farm and risked the 11 alpacas living at home. Sadly, about 70 animals were lost to the disease containment.
We were told that Alice, the youngest who is black and another with white in her topknot were the mostly likely to come over for a visit. We spent the best part of an hour watching their antics and listening to their soft murmurings. Only one would permit us to pet her but the rest came over for their food and water. Do not even know if they noticed us but we enjoyed them.
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