‘Joe’s a very sweet boy’: Joe Llama gets home safely thanks to Michigan deputies
By Lauren Edwards
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ADA TOWNSHIP, Michigan (WXMI) — On Andrea Lange’s farm, there’s Theresa, Lizzie, Paula, Denise, Kenny Loggins, and Hazel. They’re all her pet baby goats and she fed them as she introduced them to FOX 17 on Monday afternoon.
However, towering over all of them was Joe. His full name is Joe Llama. He was named by her boys. She fed him too as she told FOX 17 about his great escape on Saturday.
“Then I started getting all these messages and calls that, ‘What? Please don’t spit on me. Please don’t spit on me,’” Lange said while staring at Joe. “’Please? You look irritated. I didn’t do anything.’ See when his ears go back he gets angry.”
Joe didn’t spit on Lange. But she said he’s a protection llama and their first line of defense is to spit on predators or people they perceive to be a threat.
“We had a couple of incidents with just coyotes and strays dogs,” Lange said before telling Kenny the goat to get down from the fence. “So, I read about protection llamas and they are actually instinctively, they will guard and protect your herd.”
Joe Llama’s herd is his goats. On Saturday the electric fence went down so the goats walked out. They ended up at nearby Forest Hills Eastern High School, up in the stadium because as goats, they like being in elevated places, she said.
So, Joe Llama followed them to protect them, Lange said, but she had no idea.
“I was not feeling well, had taken some NyQuil, and I missed all the excitement,” Lange said. “When I woke up at 3 in the afternoon, Joe’s in the yard. And I’m like ‘What are you doing out of your pen?’”
That’s when she learned that the Kent County Sheriff Office stepped in and got him home. They found him walking a long a fence. They whistled to him and got him home.
“So, the biggest thing is when you call like a dog you make that kissy sound. That’s llama for ‘I’m going to spit on you,’” Lange said. “So, I have a feeling why so many deputies got caught in the line of fire. I can just picture it, calling them over ‘come here buddy.’ But overall Joe’s a very sweet boy.”
Lange said she got him in December and since then they’ve been getting to know each other.
She owns the business “That Poison Ivy Chick” in which the goats and Joe are rented out to eat poison ivy on people’s or businesses’ lawns. She said it’s actually good for them. But, no matter where he goes, he’s protective of his siblings.
“[The goats] probably saw the police coming and were like ‘Uh oh, mom’s going to get mad. We’re getting out of here,’ and they probably took off and Joe was just standing there like,” Lange said before turning to him. “What? You did great.’ Anybody he doesn’t know like a stranger, he’ll come up and investigate, you know, check them out and make sure they’re safe. Yeah, he’s a goofy little guy.”
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