Cute, cuddly, fleece-covered alpacas don't quite fit the image of a snarling guard dog. But Australian sheep farmers are finding the llama-like creatures to be the perfect weapon against foxes. Bob Richardson, vice president of the Australian Alpaca Association, said that in the past year the miniature camels from the high Andes have developed a reputation as highly protective sheep guardians and sales are taking off. "We don't think of them as sheep guardians attacking the fox and biting it to pieces," Richardson said. "They race at it and scream at it and the fox is not used to animals attacking it of course and generally speaking the foxes disappear." It is not known how many of Australia's 35,000-strong alpaca herd?nbsp;the largest outside Peru and Chile ?nbsp;are patrolling the island continent's grazing lands. But alpaca breeder Geoff Fysh from Gidgegannup in Western Australia said that he had sold around 200 in the past two years, most as sheep, goat or even geese guardians.

毛绒绒的羊驼十分可爱，令人忍不住想去爱抚，其形象与咆哮的护羊犬相去甚远。但澳大利亚的牧羊人却发现这种形似骆驼的动物是对付狐狸的绝佳武器。澳洲羊驼协会的副主席鲍勃·理查德森说，来自安第斯高山的这种“微型骆驼”在过去一年中已经树立起了高效绵羊卫士的声名，销量也正在上扬。“我们并不把它们想成那种会攻击狐狸并将其撕成碎片的绵羊卫士，”理查德森说。“它们追逐狐狸并冲着它尖叫，当然，狐狸还不适应别的动物对它发起攻击。一般来说，狐狸就此消失了。”澳洲规模达3万5千头的羊驼群——这是在秘鲁和智利之外最大的种群——中有多少在这片岛屿大陆的牧场上巡逻目前还不清楚。不过来自澳大利亚西部基吉甘纳普的羊驼养殖者吉奥夫·菲什说他在前两年中已经卖出了大约200头，其中大部分被用来看护绵羊、山羊甚至是鹅。

Remarks：羊驼和狐狸令我想起了《黔之驴》中的驴和老虎，但愿羊驼的威慑力持续的时间能比驴长久一些。