A two-hour drive north of San Francisco, on a 340-acre ranch tucked into the hills outside Middletown in Lake County, Julie Barr has spent nearly a decade raising alpacas. A retired Navy nurse, she moved her herd from Texas in 2015, filling the pastures with animals she describes as “so adorable.”
She told SFGATE she had “never lost an animal to attack.” But that peace ended last weekend, when a spree of mountain lion attacks over three consecutive nights left 15 of her alpacas dead.
She remembered stepping onto her porch the evening of Sunday, Aug. 17, when she heard a crash. Barr and her husband rushed out to inspect the alpaca enclosure and found a section of fence smashed from the inside out. Only later did she realize it was made by her alpacas, stampeding in the dim light and slamming against the boards in a blind panic as the lions struck…