Rojo the llama is arguably one of Vancouver’s most famous residents, and no one is more aware of how beloved he is than his handler, Shannon Joy.
Except for maybe Rojo.
“We call him our diva llama,” said Joy, 27. “He knows he’s very cool. He walks around very upright and like he knows how popular he is. He’s very regal.”
No matter the occasion or the holiday, Rojo has an outfit for it and is usually seen sporting some kind of hat or costume.
“He has a bigger wardrobe than I do,” Joy said.
Rojo built up his popularity locally working as a therapy llama, visiting schools, hospitals, nursing homes and events. In in recent years, he has appeared on television, in a feature-length documentary and recently raised more than $8,000 on Kickstarter so Joy could publish a children’s book about him.
“He’s 400 pounds of hair and comfort and unconditional love and joy,” she said. “It’s cool that everyone can love him, from 3-year-olds to 93-year-olds. All different spectrums of people from all different backgrounds can enjoy him.”
Joy said she and her mother, Lori Gregory, thought Rojo had the personality to be the main character in a children’s book. In September, Joy was driving around when the idea for the book came to her. It should follow Rojo’s real story, one of “embracing who you are and how you can find purpose and joy in that,” she said.
“He doesn’t do what other llamas do,” she said. “His body structure is really poor. He’s not a llama you would continue to breed. He doesn’t have good llama genes. When you take him to these schools and hospitals and living homes, you can see how much happiness he can bring to people.”
Joy looked up local artists, thinking she’d find one in Portland to illustrate the book. Instead, she found Theresa Johnson, a Vancouver-based artist, and the three hit it off. Johnson hadn’t drawn a llama before and came to their initial meeting with some preliminary sketches that Joy said perfectly captured Rojo before they had even met.
To get the book made, Joy raised $8,485. She said she hopes to get the book in stores in Vancouver, Portland and Seattle. Joy also hopes the book is ready for an April release, specifically April 26, Rojo’s birthday. He will turn 14 this year.
Rojo and Joy first met on a farm more than 13 years ago, when Rojo was just a few months old. Joy started working with llamas in her Clark County 4-H Club, and was looking for her own to train and compete with. They did 4-H for four years until Joy aged out of it. While at an event, a man saw Rojo’s calm demeanor as kids surrounded and petted him and told Joy she should get him certified as a therapy animal.
In 2007, Joy and Gregory both were certified to work as a therapy team Rojo. They started by visiting assisted-living homes. At first, it was a bit slow, as Joy said a lot of people were hesitant to allow such a large farm animal into their facilities. However, once people saw Rojo interacting with others, they fell in love.
By 2009, the two brought in Smokey, a second llama, because they had so many requests and didn’t want to turn anyone down, or overwork Rojo. They also received by donation Napoleon, a therapy alpaca, and started Mountain Peaks Therapy Llamas and Alpacas, their Brush Prairie-based nonprofit organization.
Still, Rojo remains the biggest star. Joy said she thinks he is so popular partly because he’s very in the moment, a peculiar trait for a llama.
“A lot of llamas are naturally distant lookers, looking off in the distance for predators and to see what’s going on,” she said. “Rojo is very present. He’s very engaging. He looks at people in front of him, he smells their hair.”
In addition to his weekly appearances around Vancouver and Portland, Joy and Rojo also filmed a segment for the CNN show “Vital Signs,” which is hosted by Sanjay Gupta. Joy said the film crew followed them on a few visits across two days, and their segment is expected to air in mid-February. They also recently filmed a Huffington Post Live interview.
“It’s really exciting to see Rojo become bigger and bigger over the years,” Joy said. “There’s just something bigger each year that we would’ve never anticipated. It’s really great. We’re really excited about the opportunities that are being presented. We were always obsessed with Rojo, so it’s cool to see other people are obsessed with Rojo, too.”
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