This is one seriously berkeleyed up story:
http://www.ctnow.com/news/connecticut/middlesex/hc-alpaca-slain-1224-20111224,0,7462977.story
The Hartford Courant
December 24, 2011 ESSEX—
Four alpacas were stabbed to death at a farm Friday, the latest in what the owner said is a series of mysterious and brutal attacks.
The attacks at Alpacas at Applesauce Acres began about four months ago, said George MacLauchlan, who owns the farm that his daughter Sara MacLauchlan runs. Six alpacas have been slain so far, and more than a dozen are still at the farm, he said.
"I don't have any enemies, I'm sure of it," George MacLauchlan said. "Somebody is sick. It's like killing a kitten. They're not going to hurt anybody."
State police are pursuing leads, Lt. J. Paul Vance said, but no arrests have been made.
Police who responded to 99 Bushy Hill Road on Friday ruled out wild animal attacks as the cause. All four animals had been stabbed multiple times, according to police and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials.
The trouble at the farm began this summer, when a trespasser opened a gate in the middle of the night and all of the 32 alpacas that lived there at the time wandered out. Three disappeared, and one was found dead, George MacLauchlan said.
"One definitely had his throat slit with an ax," he said.
In another incident, one alpaca was shot to death and another bludgeoned with a rock, he said.
MacLauchlan says he has lost nine alpacas altogether, including the missing ones. The ones that were killed Friday were females — "the expensive ones," he said.
"They're like a deer, that's how much noise they make. … Their poop doesn't stink, so it's not like the neighbors are upset with it."
More than a dozen alpacas are still on the farm.
Alpacas can be expensive — costing tens of thousands of dollars — and the MacLauchlans' were not insured, he said.
MacLauchlan and his daughter paid more than $156,000 for six alpacas that they bought from Northwest Alpacas in Oregon in 2006, according to court documents filed by the company in a payment dispute.
The MacLauchlans stopped payments on the alpacas — named Bunny, Miss Godiva, Venus, Victoria, MFI Lady's Gigi, and Godiva's Mielodie — in February 2008, the lawsuit states. The MacLauchlans still owe more than $109,000, including interest, the lawsuit states.
George MacLauchlan said the dispute is a simple misunderstanding that will soon be settled. He said Northwest is supposed to accept alpacas from Applesauce Acres to settle the debt.
But Mike Safley, owner of Northwest Alpacas, said the parties have not agreed on a deal.
"It's a collection problem. He owes me some money," Safley said.
On Dec. 15, Northwest Alpacas filed a motion for a default judgment, court documents state.
Lady Gigi was one of the alpacas found dead on Friday, George MacLauchlan said. She cost $40,000, according to the lawsuit.
Some breeders will pay more than $100,000 for an alpaca, said Steve Putney, a managing partner at Safe Haven in Hamden, Connecticut's largest alpaca farm, and a board member of the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association.
With alpaca fleece considered to be superior to wool in some applications, breeders will pay more than $100,000 for an alpaca. They can live longer than 20 years.
"It's kind of like the thoroughbred horse industry," Putney said. "The very high-end animals will fetch a very, very high price."
The slayings have local breeders "in shock," Putney said.
"I can't say that I've ever heard anything like this," Putney said.
"It's concerning to me that this happened before and nobody found out about it," Putney said. "You can't complain about noise. Alpacas are not loud. Their feces and urine doesn't have the smell of other livestock, and they're easy on land and don't tear up grass. I can't think of one reason that somebody would do this."
