Still, we should remember this not for how it ended, but for the beauty and majesty that played out on a livestream watched by curious onlookers far and wide.

[UPDATE: You’re not going to believe this, but it happened again. Llamas were on the loose in Vancouver, Wash., later on Thursday, but they were eventually corralled.]

AD

Let us relive the wonderful experience in Arizona through beautiful, beautiful GIFs. (Before watching, please open this in another tab.)

Darting down the street!

Evading capture, which apparently llamas can do with some skill!

And ultimately reaching the end of the road, before striving, one last time, for precious freedom.

The llamas were being taken to visit a former llama rancher at an assisted living facility for animal therapy when they escaped, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office told the Arizona Republic. (Three llamas were together in a trailer when the trailer door opened, but apparently only two ran off.)

AD

This raises a very important question: Where do llamas live? Lots of places, actually! Here is where the country’s 76,000 llamas lived as of 2012:

AD

The llamas captured attention on social media, because what else were people sitting on Twitter all day going to do? They watched, they cheered, they tweeted:

Llama chase

[This breaking and developing news story has been updated repeatedly and will continue to be updated, for obvious reasons.]

Philip Bump in New York contributed to this report.