Have You Seen This Llama?

FRANKLIN COUNTY, MO — A llama has been taken into custody in Franklin county after a rash of sightings by locals, the Post-Dispatch reports. The animal had been seen grazing along roadsides in the rural Missouri county. According to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, police first started getting calls in early January, but the animal may have been on the loose much longer. One local reported that the llama came onto his property over the summer and began herding his donkey. Some llamas have been trained to protect domestic livestock like sheep or goats from predators, so a donkey isn't too much of a stretch.

No one has come forward to claim ownership of the llama. Some locals say it belongs to a family that left the area after floods last May, but no one seems to know for sure. A local llama keeper has agreed to take in the stray after the sheriff's office contacted the Humane Society of Missouri's Longmeadow Rescue Ranch for help.

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Photo via Franklin County Sheriff's Office