I subscribe to The Backcountry LLama, a quarterly magazine/newsletter. The summer 2010 issue had an article titled "A Tragic Event". It is the horrifying story of a man transporting his 3 llamas in a trailer, the bedding in the trailer somehow ignited, engulfing the interior of the trailer and all three llamas. The man pulling the trailer didn't even know what had happened until another driver motioned for him to pull over. The llamas had to be put down immediately. He used shredded paper as bedding, but straw or hay could just as easily catch fire. All it would take is a carelessly thrown cigarette, a spark from wiring or whatever. We used to put some hay in the trailer with our llamas. No more. We got some rubber anti-fatigue mats, the kind honeycombed with holes, and put down two layers to help with road shock. I felt I had to pass this on so it won't happen to others. You can contact the publisher of the Backcountry Llama at bcllama@blackfoot.net Kitty & Kris Knaphus
