SCAMMON, Kan. —
At the time of the Spanish conquest in Peru, llamas were used to bring ore down from mines in the Andes Mountains.
This coming weekend, llamas will once again traverse mined lands, or the remnants of Southeast Kansas strip pits.
Llama owners from throughout the region will be bringing their animals to Scammon to participate in a llama pack trial, a three-mile, obstacle-riddled event necessary for certification.
“Certification for llamas means that if an owner would want to sell it to someone who was going to go packing in Colorado, the person buying it would know it had the basics of knowing how to carry the pack and being able to navigate,” said Joyce Johnson, who owns a farm of 22 llamas near Columbus and is coordinating the event.
The U.S. Forestry Service in Colorado has begun using llamas to takes supplies to hard-to-access ranger stations, and hunting lodges in Oregon have begun using them instead of horses to pack out kills of elk and deer.
“Their feet are soft leather pads, like a dog foot, so they are very ecologically friendly to the terrain,” Johnson said. “They don’t require as much feed as a horse, and they’re in the camelid family so they can get by on less water, like dew on grass, in a crisis situation. Llamas are just great all-around animals.”
On Saturday and Sunday at Mined Land Unit 45, llamas with packs will navigate a course that includes elevation gains, obstacles like downed trees or shallow water, and ducking under low-hanging branches.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of Monday’s Joplin Globe or register for our E-Edition at joplinglobe.com.
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Joyce Johnson unpacks her male llama, Chocolate Kiss, at her family farm in rural Columbus. Johnson is one of the organizers of the upcoming llama pack trial at a strip pit near Scammon that will test the animals’ ability to carry loads and navigate trails. Globe/T. Rob Brown
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