A state veterinarian will come to Dublin later this week to check on about ten alpacas on property located on Route 101, animals many passersby believe are being neglected.
Dublin Police Chief Tim Suokko confirmed Tuesday afternoon that one of the animals had died recently on the grounds, but he is unsure at this point whether the animals are being neglected.
“People are always concerned, this is an ongoing saga over the past three or four years,” said Suokko. “I understand why they are calling – they drive by and the animals are in a public place – but I’m not sure if things are to the level that people think they are.”
Suokko said he will defer to the state veterinarian when it comes to determining whether or not the animals appear to be neglected. Suokko said that a state veterinarian was called to the farm in March, and determined that the animals were not neglected.
Lack of shelter and the alpacas not being shorn are two major complaints many have had regarding the alpacas.
Suokko also said that to his knowledge – and based on what the state veterinarian has previously told him – the animals on the farm have adequate shelter in the form of tree coverage and a wind barrier.
“We’re just going to wait and see,” said Suokko. “They aren’t in any immediate danger.”
Suokko said that the alpacas are currently have a caretaker, with owner Daniel Ramage not being in the area right now. The Ledger-Transcript was unable to get in touch with anyone during a recent trip to the property.
Ramage is the previous owner of Cornflake the guanaco, which was rescued by Purgatory Falls Alpaca Farm in Lyndeborough in December 2014 after it was found running around property he was evicted from in Hancock.
Cornflake was reported as the only animal left on the property after Ramage had rounded up the rest of his herd before leaving. The herd had been left on its own for some time before that, leading some to die and leaving the fields littered with skeletons.
In an email to the Ledger-Transcript, Purgatory Falls Alpaca Farm owner Dana Welch said they purchased his two remaining guanacos, one of which “appeared to be sick and subsequently died.”
Welch said she has offered to buy the rest of Ramage’s alpacas, but he wanted more money than she could afford.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT.