Alpaca Journal

By Mike Safley

The Alpaca Registry that we know in 2004, which has tens of thousands of alpacas, thousands of owners, a corporate structure with a board of directors, newsletter, DNA testing and other high tech trappings was an impossible dream back in 1986.  Today’s Registry was put together, by a hard working group of alpaca pioneers, one decision at a time.  The path was not always clear, the early Alpaca Registry was an orphan of the International Lama Registry (ILR) and the alpaca community had to battle to maintain control of its database and the decisions affecting the registration of alpacas.  The ability to control our own future, free of the ILR, that the Alpaca Registry Inc. (ARI) enjoys today, eighteen years later, came at a price, and this freedom should be held dear by every alpaca breeder.

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By Mike Safley

The Spring 2004, Alpaca World magazine, published in England, carried an article by an American author, entitled, "Ship of Fools."  The large print, pull quote, in the center of the two-page spread captured my attention by proclaiming:

"To me, participation in the closed US alpaca market is analogous to being on a cruise ship that has left dock with giddy passengers who have been promised unbelievable lottery prizes.  But when they awake and take a good sober look at what’s going on they find the crew is tyrannical and on a course known only to them."

I was wide-awake and sober when I read the offering and I began to wonder, was the author’s analogy of the American alpaca market a rational, clear-minded analysis based in reality or a narcissistic vision sailing forth on hyperbolic breath force?

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