Stephen Mulholland, pictured with Hooch the llama, brought five of his camelids to Kāpiti as part of a council school holiday programme. Photo / Grace Odlum
Stephen Mulholland, pictured with Hooch the llama, brought five of his camelids to Kāpiti as part of a council school holiday programme. Photo / Grace Odlum
Stephen Mulholland’s llamas and alpacas have travelled throughout the Wellington region — but this week they were in Kāpiti.
Mulholland was invited by Kāpiti Coast District Council to bring his llamas and alpacas, animals that are part of the camelid family, to Queen Elizabeth Park on Wednesday, October 9, for one of the council’s school holiday programme events.
The promise of seeing llamas and alpacas up close drew a large crowd, with over 150 people coming along, eager to learn more about the animals.
The event began with a llama-themed story read by one of the council’s libraries team, before Mulholland shared fun facts about llamas and alpacas — such as the way to tell the difference between them by their ears.
Hooch the llama leads Stephen Mulholland at a Kāpiti Coast District Council school holiday event. Photo / Grace Odlum
After that Mulholland and some helpers led three llamas and two alpacas around the park for children to see and touch the animals.
Sisters Elise, Mia, and Sophia enjoyed getting a close look at the furry creatures. Elise said they were super-fluffy and she learned lots about them.
Brothers Dante and Anson were also keen to find out how soft the fleeces felt, and managed to pet all five of the animals. Anson said he thought they smelled good too.
Two of Stephen Mulholland's llamas pictured at a Kāpiti Coast District Council school holiday event. Photo / Grace Odlum
Mulholland said he got into keeping llamas and alpacas 20 years ago when he moved to New Zealand from the United States.
He knew he wanted to have farm animals, but wasn’t sure which ones.
Sheep and cows didn’t appeal to him, but he thought llamas and alpacas were perfect.
The children loved petting the alpacas at a school holiday event organised by Kāpiti Coast District Council. Photo / Clark Williams
He started with alpacas because they were better financially than llamas, but eventually ended up with both, although he always has more alpacas than llamas.
“Llamas are fun, and they go really well with the alpacas too.”
He said his animals became popular after he started taking them to the Tawa Christmas Parade, and a couple of libraries in the region contacted him to run events for children.
Stephen Mulholland says llamas, like this one, make the world better. Photo / Grace Odlum
“It went around the local libraries, and everyone wanted in.”
Since then, he’s taken his camelids to many events, such as animal therapy in Remutaka Prison, Oranga Tamariki and, most recently, a Blessing of the Animals celebration in Wellington this week.
Mulholland said one of his favourite things about llamas and alpacas was their intelligence.
Stephen Mulholland with two of his llamas as the council's library team read a story. Photo / Grace Odlum
“They vary — you have some very smart, you have some less so.”
