Alpaca terrorising Sussex village ‘just looking for a friend’

Marco has swapped the Andes mountains for remote village life in Sussex

An escaped alpaca on the loose in a remote Sussex village may be looking for a friend after losing his partner, concerned locals have said.

Marco's desperate owners told neighbours the alpaca escaped his enclosure in Bexhill after Storm Ciaran damaged his fencing.

Locals have scrambled to form search parties before the alpaca is hurt in traffic, as he continues to evade capture by roaming gardens and country roads.

Neighbour Zoe House caught the woolly mammal on camera as he wandered onto her front drive in the latest confirmed sighting at 3pm on Monday.

She told The Independent: “He still hasn’t been found yet which is a worry. I wish I had stopped and tried to catch him now.

“He was wandering about in a lane near Bexhill in Sussex going in and out of people’s gardens. He was very at risk from the traffic.”

Alpacas don't drink much water and eat around 4lb of food per day, much less than their llama cousins (Zoe House)

She added: “He is possibly looking for a friend, as he is now living alone and they are a herd species. The other one is no longer present so he is on his own now.

“The owners say the fencing was damaged in a recent storm but neighbours say they were both always escaping - and there always seems to be fencing issues.”

Other locals also believe Marco is wandering the countryside looking for friendly alpacas in a different enclosure in nearby Ninfields.

One of Marco’s owners posted a desperate appeal on Facebook as the sun set on Monday’s search.

She wrote: “Any ideas where he has gone? As it’s my partner’s and he’s trying to look for him now. There’s still no sign of him.”

Alpacas are usually found in the mountainsides and valleys of the Andes in South America, where they are bred for their warm wool which comes in 52 different colours.

The camelids are naturally calm and gentle animals. They are happy to come to people but unless trained or familiar with a person, they prefer not to be touched.

The hardy animals don’t drink much water and eat around 4lb of food per day, much less than their llama cousins.

It comes as a wild emu, named Rodney, was eventually caught by police on Saturday after roaming the appropriately named village of Loose in Kent.

Emu is sheparded to safety by police (Twitter/KPTacOps)

Doorbell camera footage showing the emu being hassled to safety

Kent Police tweeted: “A slightly different call for SD14 & YA92 this afternoon. One Emu (Rodney) from the Maidstone area safely returned to his owners.”