Sequim: They love Lucy — and a bunch of other critters, who are finding good homes

SEQUIM — Lucy the llama is heading to Oregon with her herd of Soay sheep.

Casey the chocolate Labrador retriever is reveling in his new home with 2.6 fenced acres and a playmate.

The Angora and LaMancha goats are moving to new digs, and even a mother and daughter pygmy goat have prospects for another residence.

“The only thing that’s left are five poor little silkie roosters and two hens,” Susan Stahlin, who runs Critterhaven with her husband, Bob Bashaw, said Saturday.

Their adoptions are the result of a weeklong whirlwind led by Stahlin and Bashaw as they worked to place the animals while their owner, Jo Taylor, underwent heart-bypass surgery.

With Taylor’s operation, he and his wife, Judy, who live in Sequim, could no longer care for the animals and turned to Critterhaven for help.

But with 152 creatures already residing with Stahlin and Bashaw, there was no room for Taylor’s menagerie.

Since e-mails, front-page news articles and television reports were put out about the dilemma in the past two weeks, Stahlin said responses have come from the local community as well as from Shelton, Whidbey Island, Vashon Island, Carnation and beyond.

“I don’t even remember all the places we’ve gotten responses from,” she said.

“The outpouring from the community is just overwhelming.”

Stahlin said she’s beat after working about 20 hours a day for the past two weeks, making phone calls and sending e-mails.

Most of the animals are still at Taylor’s farm but will be transported next weekend.

The people in Oregon who are adopting Lucy and the 20 sheep — to which the llama is very attached — are picking up the tab for about $150 in health certificates and $850 in livestock transport fees, Stahlin said.

Taylor’s two pygmy goats don’t have a permanent home yet, but Stahlin said she’s checking references and narrowing down the many offers to take them.

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