A mature female llama normally fetches $1,500 on the open market, but Saturday, $300 was all a smart shopper needed. That and some sensitivity.
Speckles the llama was one of some four dozen petting zoo animals rounded up less than two weeks ago from a Barrington Hills barn, where authorities said the animals were underfed, uncared for and unprotected from the bitter cold.
On Saturday, Speckles seemed to be enjoying her recuperation and the attention of wide-eyed buyers who gathered at the Hooved Animal Humane Society in Woodstock for a special sale.
Although Speckles was not one of the animals bought by several dozen bidders who attended the sale, many of the other animals found new homes.
“They’re in a good place now,” said Linda Kesul, a state-licensed animal investigator who attended the sale. “They’re very happy. They’re sheltered now.”
For most of the menagerie, authorities said, the recent reprieve meant the difference between life and death.
A weakened burro and horse still were hobbled by hoof fungus and still had bald spots on their hides from where two starved llamas gnawed at them.
“The burro and the filly need to be watched constantly,” said Donna Ewing, president of the Hooved Animal shelter. “The goat was so sick we had to put it to sleep.”
Ewing, who also operates as a state-licensed animal investigator, led a raid on the Barrington Hills barn, impounding more than 45 live animals. Many were malnourished and suffering from hypothermia, she said.
On the property also were found the carcasses of a pony, calf and pot-bellied pig, as well as numerous dead fowl, she said.
Barrington Hills police, who learned of the animals from an anonymous tip, identified the owner of the animals as Lynn J. Dynek, 43, who was leasing the property at 12 Rebecca Drive. Dynek used the animals in a traveling petting zoo that he operated for at least three years, taking them to shopping malls, church events and other functions.
Ewing alleged Dynek was overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for the animals.
“It wasn’t malicious,” she said.
Ewing said she intends to charge Dynek with animal cruelty.
Ewing, whose organization operates statewide, led the raid because her organization is licensed by the Department of Agriculture to seize and rehabilitate maltreated farm animals. Operating mostly on tips, the society is allowed to enter private property and take animals when cruelty is suspected, she said.
Ewing said her organization has seized animals 15 times this winter, but she said the Barrington Hills case involved the most mistreated animals. When Ewing, police and other volunteers entered the property, they found no water or food in the barn except for moldy hay, and old manure was packed several feet deep on the floor.
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“The animals were just mobbing us, begging us for food and jumping on us,” Ewing said. “The 3-year-old filly was strong enough to stagger to the roadway, but collapsed when she got in the ambulance.”
Any time a horse acts that way, humane society workers fear the worst.
“When they lie down, they’re not going to sleep,” Kesul said. “They’re giving up. They’re waiting to die.”
Since the raid, Dynek has been helping to care for the animals at the Society’s barn complex. They had clearly recovered some of their spirit; Speckles walked up to the edge of his pen, sticking her banana-shaped snout right in Lou Giannini’s face.
“Whaddaya do with llamas anyway, besides feed ’em?” Giannini wondered aloud.
Giannini’s wife Jo was looking forward to taking a palomino gelding back to the family stable in the Sandwich area. “There’s plenty of horses and animals for sale, but I’d rather get one that needs a home more,” she said.
Not all animal lovers expressed warm and fuzzy sentiments.
“It sickens me,” said Dave Gregoria, who heard about the barn raid from his mother, who works for the Barrington Hills police. “It’s terrible.”
At his property Friday, Dynek acknowledged making mistakes with his animals but said he didn’t deliberately mistreat them.
“It got cold and there was a draft in the barn,” he said. “And (Ewing) said the hay I was using was no good.”