It's a long, long way from Canada to Qatar and since the two countries have no export/import agreement, it took about ten months to work out the details before twelve Canadian alpacas could fly to Qatar.
In May of 2008, a hobby farmer in that desert nation first began talking alpaca sales with Margot and Jamie Roode. The couple raise alpacas, Shetland sheep, coloured angora goats, Spanish goats and cashmere goats at Devine West Ranch, their exotic fibre farm at Erb Settlement in New Brunswick.
The Roodes were happy to oblige but they had no idea the transaction would take so long.
"They had to start from scratch," said Margot, "so embassy people there and CFIA here drew up the agreement."
Finally the details were all ironed out and on January 16, 2009, twelve Roode alpacas, nine females and three males, ranging in age from 1.5 years to 4 years old were flown from Montreal with a stopover in Amsterdam and then on to Qatar. The animals are doing fine in their new country and Margot admits it feels pretty good to know that Devine West alpacas are the first alpacas ever in that country.The Roodes procured the entire cargo hold for the trip. The alpacas travelled in a stall measuring 110 x 90 x 63.5 inches and weighing about 250 kg. A moveable partition separated the males and females. The buyer originally wanted six alpacas but when he realized the shipping price was the same, he chose to purchase twelve instead.
The cost? $25,000.00 in Canadian funds. The regular price would have been more than twice that amount, $53,000.00. The price of shipping depends on demand. Margot explained. In January when the alpacas were shipped demand was low. "The plane had to make the trip anyway, so the sale of the cargo hold (meant) additional dollars."
The Roodes have shipped alpacas all over Canada usually by truck which they've found to be less expensive than air. "By truck from BC is about $1500.00 per animal with a minimum of three," Margot said.
