This last week we have gone out and helped the SPCA in their annual street-appeals. Last Saturday we met up with Grahame, Sue, and their youngest daughter Rochelle in Upper Hutt- we brought Zahir, Zafar, and Hob. (In a few weeks they will be the new owners of Z&Z, and were very happy to get to take them out and play with them!) I took Hob off in one direction, while the four of them went off in another with the alpacas.

We raised a good deal of money for the SPCA during our 90 minutes on the street. My best was getting $5 from a Nun. The most touching story came from one woman who had lost her dog of 18 years the night before. Hugging Zafar made her feel better, and in gratitude she put $20 in the collection bucket. A great example fo the healing power of animals, I guess.

Yesterday I took Hob and Nazani to Coham Court in Porirua for the Wellington SPCA street appeal. We did pretty well again, though it was a bit tough wrangling them two by myself. Lots of cell-phone cameras in action. Nazani was the star, standing there while being cuddled from all directions by a half-dozen people. Hob was in a “don’t touch me” mood, and would neatly side-step most attempts to pet him- while maintaining proper llama manners and decorum, of course!