Berkeley students treated to llama therapy before finals

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Six therapeutic llamas came Friday to bring therapy to the University of California at Berkeley, a place that can always use it.

A therapeutic llama may look like an ordinary llama. It isn't. It's been specially trained to be petted, hugged and even kissed by overwrought, stressed-out college students, who will start final exams in a week.

That's exactly what happened at Llama-Palooza, as hundreds of Cal students took time off from the hitting-the-textbook thing to hang out on the lawn by the Campanile and forget such matters as calculus exams.

``The llama doesn't care what grade you get,'' said freshman Kat Blesie, 19. ``They couldn't care less.''

Petting the llama, said sophomore Camille Rubel, 18, was helping her to remember the molecular orbital diagrams of carbon atoms, which is something she's going to need to know for finals.

``This is very therapeutic,'' she said and her llama, Amigo, did not disagree.

It was the fourth llama confab in campus history. Campus llama impresario Ana Claire Mancia, a business student, persuaded the student government to part with $700 so she could hire llama wrangler George Caldwell to bring the six llamas from his Sonora ranch to campus in two minivans.

One minivan holds four llamas, which means Caldwell could have brought eight llamas. But two llamas who had been scheduled to make the trip informed Caldwell on Friday morning that they didn't feel like going. Caldwell says a llama is never shy about telling you what's on its mind and it's his job, as a llama wrangler, to pay attention.

The llamas that agreed to come -- Amigo, Quinoa, Yanatine, Putukisi, Tambo and Wykee -- scrambled out of the vans after their long drive and wasted no time doing to the central campus lawn the same thing that llamas have done for millennia. Caldwell, with a small rake, took care of business, perhaps to guarantee that there would be a fifth Llama-Palooza next year.

Meanwhile, Mancia and a handful of llama volunteers set up llama-related games, with Peruvian energy drinks as prizes. A Peruvian club was selling colorful handicrafts. There was Peruvian music and art. Most students said that their share of the $700 llama rental fee -- about two cents per Cal student -- was a bargain compared to this year's tuition and living expenses of $28,510.

The only unhappy Llama-Palooza visitor was a German Shepherd named Tucker who, without any final exams to study for, spent a good while barking at the giant critters. His owner, senior Taylor Harvey, said Tucker was ``feeling a little intimidated'' by the llamas and especially by their rear hooves.

Not a single student, not even the ones who failed to notice the piles of llama-related obstacles all over the lawn, was opposed to spending two cents to bring llamas to campus.

``It's a good deal,'' agreed Mancia. ``The llamas do help put everything in perspective. Sometimes, students think final exams are the whole world. They aren't. We've seen a deep connection between students and llamas. Llamas provide students with many mental health benefits.''

Senior Bria Lamothe, 22, agreed her mental health had improved after hugging her llama.

``It's relaxing,'' she said. ``It's a help. It's distracting. All those are good things.''