A llama has been on the loose in Gibsons since Aug. 18 and despite several attempts to catch the farm animal, it has eluded volunteers repeatedly and was still on the lam as of Wednesday this week.
“Zeus is still on the loose,” owner Carmen Peters told Coast Reporter Aug. 24, noting she and others have tried repeatedly to catch the male llama that seems to be hanging around the Mahon Road trail system in Gibsons.
Zeus will let people get close but not close enough to get a harness on him, and he has turned his nose up at all the treats offered to coax him back towards his home at the Half Pint Llama farm on Chaster Road.
Peters said she is unsure how Zeus got out, along with a female llama that was found dead near the property on Thursday, Aug. 18. She suspects a cougar was in the area and perhaps scared the two llamas out of their pen, which Peters said shows no sign of disrepair.
“They can’t get out normally and I don’t know how they did it really,” Peters said.
Once she realized Zeus was missing, she put out a call for help and several people offered to lend a hand to locate and catch the lost llama.
There were dozens of sightings and a handful of attempts to capture Zeus, but the frightened animal would not settle down enough to let anyone lay hands on him. “I’m trying to find some natural way of calming him so I can put a harness on him. I stopped at the organic store but they didn’t know what to give him,” Peters said.
“So I’m going to do a bit of research online and see what I can give him to calm him down.”
Peters is the vice-president of Llama Canada and has raised llamas on the Coast for over 20 years, but this is the first time she’s had a llama escape and not be willing to return home.
She noted Zeus is not aggressive and is not a danger to the public. “If anything, he might look at you and go ‘OK, what are you going to do now?’”
If anyone would like to offer their assistance to bring Zeus back to the farm, they can contact Peters at 604-885-8482.
She is concerned about other wildlife in the area seeing Zeus as prey and is hopeful she can find a way to bring him home soon.
