Alpacas-to eat or not to eat is the question. Lately I have heard as well as seen posts on people who have slaughtered their alpacas to eat. Is this right?
In looking at the overall economy I guess I can understand why some ranches decided to do so. After all we are raising the livestock to make money. If your ranch isn’t profitable well you still need to eat and feed your family.
However, this isn’t why I got into alpaca ranching. This is supposed to be a “no-kill” livestock. If Tom and I had gotten into cows, pigs, goats, chickens, etc. then I would expect to one day to slaughter those animals.
We see the alpacas more of pets than a food source. We treat them well and spend plenty of money on them when they are ill. Each one is named and gets our attention. We love to spend time with them and watch each personality grow.
Now this doesn’t mean I have never eaten alpaca. On my trip to Peru I did have a dinner of alpaca. I can say it was very tasty and alpaca is a very lean piece of meat. The difference is that it wasn’t my alpaca that I raised. The meat on my plate had no name and no personality.
So is it right to eat alpaca? At least for today it is not my choice. Take a look at this picture of Antonio and Nikoli….could you eat them?
