Alpacas pack- This alpaca, bottle fed by Elyse Strong, may soon find a new home in Canada. 265

ALPACAS bred in Nar Nar Goon are going to Canada.
The owners of Mariah Hill Alpaca homestead negotiated with Canadian authorities for five months before the alpacas boarded a 14 and-a-half-hour flight there on 28 January.
Raelene Strong, owner of the Nar Nar Goon alpaca farm, said it was the first time the species had been exported from Australia to Canada in 14 years.
“We were first told by the (Australian) Government that ‘we don’t deal with Canada it can’t be done’,” she said.
“It took months and months of negotiations. The important thing is there’s a complete new market place.”
Ms Strong, who has been breeding alpacas for 19 years, said it was exciting that she now had another country to send alpacas to.
“We were looking at new market places, because in the financial climate you can’t rely on one market place,” she said.
“We send a lot over to New Zealand – from there some alpacas end up in Europe.”
Mariah Hill Alpaca homestead is home to about 400 alpacas and Ms Strong said she would export about 100 of the animals to Canada this year.
There are about 200 alpaca breeders in the world, but Ms Strong said there was a very strong market place for those raised in Australia.
“Australian alpacas are considered to be the best in the world because of our breeding techniques,” she said.