K-State's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital has acquired alpacas for students to work with after more than 20 years of work to implement a camelid program.

Rose Ann Knoblock, with her husband, Steve, worked since 1984 to get a program with alpacas implemented on campus. Knoblock said they wanted to bring alpacas on campus to enable students to learn more and as a way of giving back to the community.

"This program was how we wanted to give back to K?State and the alpaca community," she said.

Knoblock said bringing this program to campus is positive for the alpaca community because it creates more awareness of the species.

She said she thinks the program will benefit K?State because it will boost the Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital.

Alpacas are one of four South American camelid species, said Dr. David Anderson, professor and Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital section head of agricultural practice. The other species include the llama, vicuna and guanaco, which are distant relatives of the camel.

All camels are thought to have originated in the western United States, and then the camel migrated to Asia and Africa and the South American Camelids migrated to South and Central America, Anderson said.

Though the alpacas are open for all K-State veterinary medicine students to work with, seniors will have more opportunities to work in the alpaca program.

"The purpose of the program is to have alpacas in the vet school in order to give students experience," Anderson said. "This program will give them an opportunity to see and work with the animals in order to evaluate their behavior."

Anderson said it is important to work with alpacas because they are a common species, and he also wants students to have experience with the alpacas.

"The goal of the program is to increase awareness and comfort level for students to work with different species in the field," Anderson said.

Anderson said the program is an expansion of K?State's land-grant mission to support all aspects of animal agriculture in the state. He also said the program aids K-State in providing outreach, service, research and education.

"Having the program here will help attract prospective veterinary students because of the uniqueness of the program," Anderson said.

Anderson said K-State's Alpacas on Campus program is a joint effort between the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Mid America Alpaca Foundation.

Mid America Alpaca Foundation provides care for the alpacas at K-State. The foundation's $50,000 grant will provide five years of support for the herd of alpacas on campus.

Foundation president Bob Sines said he was motivated to start the foundation in 2004 because he owned alpacas and saw a need for more veterinary help if the alpacas became ill.

Since the foundation started, it has been growing because of the increase in farms and the alpaca population, Sines said.

"What we do is work with all the farms and breeders of alpacas in the Midwest and Western regions and draw awareness to the alpaca population and the need for veterinary skills," Sines said.

Through the Mid America Alpaca Foundation Web site, www.midamalpacafoundation.com, people who own alpacas can find a list of veterinarians who can treat them.

The program's goal is to teach and provide students with practical experience so they can provide health care to alpacas. Sines said he wanted to give the alpacas specialized veterinarians, and this program will help to teach students how to give that care.

"We encourage seminars for veterinarian students and also for them to get out to farms, and by putting alpacas on campus we initiated that goal," Sines said.

Alpacas on Campus already has made history for K?State when the program successfully completed the world's first hip transplant on an alpaca. This was groundbreaking news for the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital because previously there was not even a camelid program.

"Without the knowledge a lot of these animals would not survive," Sines said.