ZOOM MEETINGS WITH ALPACAS!
K2ALPACAS are helping people to beat the boredom of lockdown by organising video chats with their alpacas.
K2Alpacas is run by Joe Phelan in Newtownmountkennedy and generally organises alpaca trekking, while it can also be arranged for alpacas to attend events such as birthdays or team building exercises.
However, given the current Covid-19 pandemic, Joe and his team were forced to close the farm doors to the public. They spent the first few weeks regrouping before deciding to hold Zoom video meetings with the Alpacas.
‘We were thinking of different ways to get going again and we had customers saying how much they miss us and suggesting we try video calls,’ said Joe.
‘We are providing virtual tours of the farm which lasts for around 25 minutes and allows you to meet all the alpacas. We also have a house party video. It’s mainly held on Zoom and we have running commentary telling participants about individual alpacas so they get a feel for their different characters. For instance we have Barry who is known as ‘biting bum Barry’ for obvious reasons. It’s been going very well.’
The alpacas are also being used to liven up Zoom meetings being held by businesses, resulting in some rather shocked reactions when one of the alpacas suddenly makes an appearance.
‘So many meetings are being held by Zoom now and people have been commenting just how long and boring some of the meetings are. Usually the alpacas is kept a secret and doesn’t drop into the meeting until half-way through. You should see the reaction on peoples faces. One meeting involved a Police force in the States as they were carrying out their briefing. I think there might be some wanted posters for our alpacas over there now,’ joked Joe.
You can also book an alpaca gram, whereby a personal message straight from the alpacas mouth is delivered.
‘It’s great for birthdays or special occasions, or just to say ‘thanks’ to someone. The alpaca gives the message you want to send. The verbiage is through the alpaca.
‘It’s a humours thing which helps to brighten up peoples day. Recently we did as few alpaca grams for Alzheimers Ireland to generate interest for their National Tea Day,’ added Joe.