Alpacas are prey animals. Their only defenses are running, kicking, and spitting. Depending on the area you live in you will have your own variety of predators such as and not limited to mountain lions, coyotes, wolves, and the domesticated dog. Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but place the domesticated dog in with the alpacas and they may believe the alpaca to be a toy and actually run them to death. Worse yet place a couple of domesticated dogs, now a pack, and entire herds can be wiped out. It is the sad truth and its happened more than once. Therefore, when owning alpacas you need to take measures to keeping them safe.
For the most part alpacas do not challenge fencing. If the fencing is only to keep alpacas within a certain area then a 2 or 3 rail fence should suffice, however if the objective is to keep predators out then you may want to review your fencing options. We chose a 5 1/2-foot no climb-woven fence around the alpaca perimeter. The actual paddocks are 6-foot wooden fences and between the paddocks we did 6 rail fences for a total of 5 feet in height.
Wireless cameras are very useful. You can purchase them online or right at your local Radio Shack. We can attach four cameras to one receiver and change channels inside the house using our television as the viewer. What is great about this is that you not only have visual, but sound as well. You can know immediately when your alpaca is sounding its alarm call. Also, the cameras can be connected to your computer for Internet viewing. Of course you will probably need to purchase a specialized card and find a host provider, but the cost is minimal.
Livestock guardians can come in llamas and dogs. Llamas make great alpaca guardians, as they detest canines. They will try to stomp them to death and hopefully will scare the dogs/coyotes or any other predator due to their large size.
Breeds such as Maremmas, Pyrenees, Anatolians, Komondors, and the Kuvasz have the livestock protection instinct. They differ from herding dogs in that their instinct is to protect and not to herd the alpacas. Keep in mind that alpacas will try to flee from anything chasing them. You may want to consider having at least two livestock guardian dogs. Two dogs will look like a greater threat to a pack of coyotes or even a mountain lion. On our ranch we have a male and female Maremma. We do allow them to intermingle with people and they love the attention. However, if it is a stranger approaching they will warn them that they are on guard to protect.
When we first started with the alpacas all we had was the paddock fencing and the 5-foot perimeter fencing. This was all for approximately a year. We then added the cameras to help us sleep better at night. Last were the dogs. We definitely feel more at ease that our alpacas are safer than before.
One thing to remember is nothing is fail proof. If an animal wants to get in chances are that they will. However, having a layered approach should deter most predators from even wanting to try.
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