Llamas, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Household pets who belong to financially struggling owners could take their cues from this year’s Republican presidential hopefuls: emphasize your humble heritage and downplay your net worth.

When an owner files for bankruptcy, valuable animals can end up being sold to pay off their caretaker’s debts.

Mutts need not apply. Bankruptcy watchdogs usually only push for the sale of designer dogs and exotic animals, making the issue a rare one. But the issue arose before Iowa Judge Paul Kilburg, who was given the task of determining a llama’s worth on Monday in the bankruptcy case of Iowa spiritual leader Ryan Patrick Scott.

A court-approved caretaker took in 18 llamas cared for by Scott, who once led the religious community located—ahem—inside a former mental health institution.

The trustee in charge of the case immediately moved to sell the animals for $250 apiece to the family that agreed to care for the herd, according to the Associated Press.

But Scott’s attorney protested that price, arguing that some of the llamas were a rare miniature breed and could fetch thousands of dollars. Llama farmers throughout the Midwest echoed those arguments in objections.

From the bench of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Cedar Rapids, Kilburg approved the sale anyway, according to news reports.

Owners whose animals could fetch a price still rarely have to part with them in bankruptcy. Many times, those animals aren’t worth the hassle of marketing, feeding and relocating, said Wisconsin bankruptcy trustee Claire Ann Resop, who said the issue has only come up a handful of times in nearly 4,000 cases during her six years as a trustee.

“I’ve liquidated horses,” Resop told Bankruptcy Beat, pausing before clarifying, “and by that, I mean I sell them.”

Despite four attempts to fix his finances in bankruptcy, high-profile exotic animal owner Sam Mazzola in Ohio kept dozens of bears, wolves, tigers and lions on his property before his unfortunate death last year. His bankruptcy attorney, Christopher J. Shellito, said that Mazzola had already been trying to sell the animals even before the filings but that he couldn’t find buyers.

Zoos wouldn’t take them, and animal-rights groups had filed lawsuits that barred him from showcasing them in a way that would make money, he said.

“There’s no market for [exotic animals], at least not in the middle of Ohio,” he said.

As for his filings, Mazzola filed for the type of consumer bankruptcy under which you propose to pay off your debts through a court-approved plan, not the type of bankruptcy where you sell off whatever assets you can, Shellito said.