Good News From Fire-Threatened Ocean County Alpaca Farm

One of the first things I thought of when I heard about the wildfire that was threatening Ocean County on Tuesday afternoon was, 'isn't that right near that alpaca farm in Waretown? '

Hey, once an animal lover...

Alpaca farm in Fire Danger

Out of Sight Alpacas is a working farm open to the public, offering interactive tours with alpacas, plus donkeys, pigs, emus, bunnies and more.

So, I looked up their address and, sure enough, they are located at 416 Wells Mills Road in Waretown, right down the road from where the wildfire was burning on Tuesday.

They even wrote on Facebook how concerned they were for a time that the farm would not make it through the fire, along with a video of raging flames rising to the sky just behind their property.

Wow, that was a close one!

By Wednesday, Out of Sight Alpacas was posting that they were cancelling tours for the day because of too much smoke and local evacuations, but planning on being open for business on Thursday.

What great news! No animals were hurt, and the farm lives on.

Here's a little alpaca info for ya...

Alpacas come from South America, and they are part of the camel family, like their relative, the llama.

Alpacas are gentle animals and aren't aggressive, unless you threaten their young.

Alpacas can produce up to ten pounds of fleece a year. Many people believe that alpaca wool is one of the best materials in the world.

It's lightweight yet warm, soft, yet durable, and so incredibly odor-resistant you'll barely have to wash it.

The folks at Out of Sight Alpacas have a nice blurb on their website about coming to love alpacas...

Our family purchased our first 8 alpacas in 2010. We have grown into a beautiful herd of approximately 30 Huacaya alpacas.  We have fallen hard for these mystical creatures that produce this wonderful luxurious fleece.

 

We love the fact that no harm comes to the alpaca to reap the rewards of their fleece. We have invested in these animals and their wonderful gift to us because we believe they ARE the future of the natural fiber industry. We currently sell yarn, rugs, hats, gloves, socks, sweaters and many other items made from our animals in our gift shop.

Out of Sight Alpacas sounds like a good place to visit this spring.