SELR has all sorts of opportunities open.

The adoption coordinator position is a very important role in our organization. If you haven't already, please review all of the information available on our website. To clarify, SELR is run strictly by volunteers. There are no paid positions, although SELR covers a number of expenses.

As a coordinator for the rescue, probably the most important things are tenacity and creativity to be honest. A coordinator is signed up to both our general volunteer chat as well as coordinator chat for advice and support - you may know a number of folks that are already on these. There is also a coordinator manual that is available for download and marketing collateral to aid you.

Coordinators also must undergo their own facility check and be approved by a representative of SELR as well as a foster/adoption approval if applicable in order to participate.

People in your area will be contacting you concerning surrendering their llamas as well as desire for adoption and fostering. I will quickly go over what each can entail - still long, please bear with me:

Surrenders- Usually after a phone interview with the interested party, they will need to fill out surrender paperwork located on the site and send it in to you or have it available at pick up. You are not necessarily the one that does transport, but you would be in charge of its coordination from point A to point B. The llamas surrendered to us are evaluated medically and behaviorally, any issues found addressed, males are gelded and fighting teeth cut, shearing if necessary, toes trimmed and fecals performed. Both transport mileage and any veterinary costs are covered by SELR, by turning receipts into our treasurer. IN addition, the "point B" would also be coordinated through this position. This is where utilizing personal networks within the llama community and organizations as well as our chat groups available will help tremendously. We try to get the surrendering farms to get much of this done, but sometimes it's just not possible especially with the economy the way it is. It is important to try to get as much information as possible so as not to be caught with your pants down when pick up time arrives!

Photos (or two) of the surrendered llama and a synopses of his/her personality to put on the website if there is not an immediate adopter at hand. We have restructured our "Animals for Adoption" page so that it is easy for all Coordinators to post their own photos and bios of animals that are ready to be adopted. You will be walked through how to do this.

Fostering/Adoption- There is also an application concerning fostering and adoption found on the site for download if they are new to SELR. What is included in the adventure is a facility check that is performed before transport to the new home. This too does not necessarily have to be done by you, but someone who you find trustworthy to fill out the forms - there have been times I don't "fail" a farm, but give them pointers for what needs to be improved upon and they let me know when they are ready and how things are progressing.

It is important to keep a good folder system to revisit potential farms, interested volunteers you scare up etc. Many people end up setting up a separate email account to keep a tight folder hierarchy instead of mixing SELR communications with other business.

Then comes the fun stuff. Helping people connect with their new fuzzy family members. Some of the things a "new" llama comes with is a local mentor in place, a Caring for Llamas book, securing a camelid (ideally) vet, halter, lead and a starter health record of the stuff that has been performed on their llama by SELR. Unless the llama is to act as a guard (and the new adopter understands the limits of a guard llama), we will not adopt out a single llama to folks without other llamas. We do offer a discount of $25 for the second and third llamas to make it a bit more attractive. The coordinator reviews what they have in foster, upcoming surrenders and other llamas fostered by other SELR members and coordinates transport. Llamas that are fostered will need updates and possible visits to make sure the llamas are doing ok and if there is fodder to update their website synopses. Adoption homes are visited on a yearly basis. Again, keeping contact with each home may help you in placing other llamas that come into SELR. They too are invited to join volunteer chat.

Coordinators also do a great deal of creative marketing (the newsletter and website are always at your disposal) through the llama community and beyond. Being a Adoption Coordinator is not easy work, but very, very rewarding. It can be a very involved position when things get cooking. Fall always seems to bring in both surrenders as well as adoptive interests.

Lastly, if you are still feeling brave after the general overview, we have some questions for you:

What experience do you have with llamas?

Do you have llamas now?

How long have you had them?

What do you do with them? (i.e. fiber, show, hike, pasture candy)

Do you have a trailer and are you willing to aid with transport?

If not, do you have any established contacts who would help transport?

Do you have the room/facilities to foster llamas yourself?

Are you a member of any llama or equine group that could be leveraged to establish foster and adoptive farms?

Of course, if the answer is no to any or all of the above, it still does not disqualify you to become a volunteer with SELR. We do strongly encourage everyone to become a member of Camelid groups and organizations for the knowledge and experience within the lama industry as well as, the networking that is accomplished. All volunteers work together in our common goal from all over the country so having a mentor (or three) along with our SELR chat groups will be there for you as mentioned previously.

I will be more than happy to answer any questions you have and thank you again for your interest in working with SELR!

Warm regards,
Tracy Snell
SOUTHEAST LLAMA RESCUE