Libby is pregnant. Margo Perryman strokes the alpaca’s soft gray fur amidst a herd of the woolly, long-necked animals in the front yard of a home in La Habra Heights. It’s mealtime, and alpacas cluster around their feeding bins for bites of hay.

“It’s really tremendous how an animal can brighten up someone’s day just by standing there or existing,” said Perryman, a Fullerton resident and owner of Marbri Alpacas. Her brood of 13 alpacas, a pony and some chickens will soon grow by one. But, Perryman isn’t sure where the growing family will live.

Perryman must find a new home for her animals before Sept. 14, when the land she uses now is sold. Earlier this year, the Fullerton farm they called home for eight years was also sold and Perryman couldn’t pay the new owners’ rates.

She’s put the call out on social media and through connections looking for the “right person” who can give her alpacas, or her “paca-poos,” a safe home. Perryman has received some initial offers of space in Carbon Canyon, Chino, Brea and Yorba Linda.

If her business can’t find a new home in time, she will temporarily relocate the animals to a ranch in Northern California.

Marbri Alpacas trains docile alpacas as educational and therapeutic animals in addition to selling alpaca wool fiber. Perryman has brought the animals to local senior homes, churches and schools for some fuzzy therapy. She also partners with the Yorba Linda Cloverleafs, a local 4H chapter whose members can choose to work with the animals for their project.

“(Alpacas are) something different that kids can learn about, especially if they have an interest in that animal,” said Michele Dugan, co-leader of the Cloverleafs. “(Perryman) goes over the animals with them, what they’re about, what they eat and how to take care of them.”

Through the Adonai Families organization, Perryman also brings alpaca therapy to kids with cancer. Pam Brown, Adonai’s founder and executive director, remembers how an alpaca named Seven comforted a 16-year-old patient in the last few weeks of her life.

“This girl loved animals,” Brown remembers. Seven put his head close to hers and gave her kisses, standing within reach for a long time.

One day, Perryman she hopes to have her own facility and extend her therapy work to wounded veterans. She’s also writing and illustrating a children’s book with her daughter on alpaca care.

Contact the writer: aong@ocregister.com or 714-704-3773