Louis The Llama Recovering From Surgery, Ready To Head Home To Yellowstone
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4)- He's a llama that goes by a few different names, originally he was "Ike" the Instagram star, but now he's "Lucky Louie." Louis used to be a pack llama in Yellowstone, but that wasn't going so well for him.
He had an abscessed tooth and didn't like being harnessed because it hurt him. So, he escaped!
"They tried to recapture him but he didn't let them," said Susi Huelsmeyer-Sinay.
Tired of his llama drama, his old owners let him go and Ike began living his best life in Yellowstone, but between predators and the winter weather he was in a lot of danger.
"He would not have survived the winter in Yellowstone," said Susi.
That's when Susi, a llama owner in Montana, decided she needed to do something. Others had attempted to wrangle and rope him but no harness would hold Ike. So, she took a gentler approach.
Susi took two of her own llamas and hiked up to Louis Lake where he was last seen, "When he saw my llamas, he came running."
Ike's owners let Susi adopt him and she named him Louis after Louis Lake where she found him. All she had to do was take care of his toothache.
"And I treated it with antibiotics hoping it would clear up," said Susi.
The injury was worse than she thought. Instead of one abscessed tooth it was three and Louis needed surgery. Susi turned to the experts at the Colorado State Veterinary Teaching Hospital who fixed Louis up, but it wasn't easy.
"It's pretty involved. I think it was a four or five-hour long procedure," said a representative from CSU.
Today Louis is on his way to recovery and Susi hopes they can go back to Yellowstone soon.
"I hope that we will go packing in Yellowstone next year."