Viral Llamas Feel the Pressure of Fame Just Like You or Me
How do you think you’d react if you went “viral”? Would you capitalize on your fame? Would you resent your friends for uploading that video of you dancing to “Uptown Funk”? Would you accept your spot on Ellen? Two llamas—known worldwide for running wild in the streets of Arizona—have let fame change them.
The two female llamas, Kahkneeta and Laney, escaped after paying a visit to an assisted-living residence in Sun City, Arizona, in February, running wild through the streets, and evading capture for hours. The whole ordeal was breathlessly documented on social media as it unfolded live, but two months after the animals were captured and returned home, the excitement has yet to end.
The llamas—Kahkneeta and Laney— have had visitors near daily, their owners have appeared on TV, and now, the impact of sudden viral fame has begun to change the way Kahkneeta acts toward her owners, Karen Freund and Bub Bullis, who spoke with the New York Times:
Laney has bounced back from the public ordeal. But Ms. Freund said the experience had gone straight to Kahkneeta’s head. Back in the pen, the llama still has a bit of defiance in her system, and she has grown distant. Ms. Freund worries she has post-traumatic stress.
“She’s a little harder to handle now,” she said. “She knows if she takes off, she can do whatever she wants. She was always my llama, and now she holds me accountable for everything that happened.”
A third llama—Alejandro—was on the scene that day, but gave in to capture early on. Some might consider this llama the smartest, for he is the only one free from the shackles of unexpected and unmanageable notoriety. But at least they made the residents of the assisted-living home happy:
“We were more excited about it than the llamas — they were calm, we were not,” said Claire Mevius, 96, who carries a photo of herself with Kahkneeta in her purse. “I don’t like petting dogs and cats. That llama neck felt great. I didn’t object to it at all.”
Kahkneeta the llama: just like a real celebrity.
