Pair of Adorable Pack Animals Helping Colorado Forest Service

Working outdoors in Colorado's High Country can be very demanding. Oftentimes numerous feet of snow must be removed, the thin oxygen levels in high altitudes can be troublesome, and depending on the time of year, temperatures can become quite frigid.

Read More: The Coldest Town in the Lower 48 States is in Colorado |

The old adage, "work smarter, not harder" is something to always keep at the forefront of situations like this and the U.S. Forest Service has just begun utilizing some new, adorable employees to make life easier on its human employees tasked with maintaining an area that falls into this category.

Forest Service Working with Llamas in Leadville Colorado

While noteworthy because of their cuteness, llamas are utilized in their native Andes Mountains as pack animals to assist humans on various excursions.

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Now, as of this summer, the U.S. Forest Service is doing the same thing for their employees working in the wilderness near Leadville as two of the newest employees are, in fact, a couple of llamas.

The llamas, named Junior and Wyatt, began helping the Forest Service carry things like tools, camping gear, and other equipment this past June, alleviating some serious weight for the rangers.

In fact, each llama is capable of carrying as much as a third of their overall weight, which amounts to somewhere between 60 and 80 pounds.

The llamas have proven to be the most helpful on assignments that require travel on roads and trails not equipped for motor vehicles, some of which require four days to complete.

While this is the first summer in which the Forest Service utilized llamas like this in this area, the idea has been in the works since 2021.

[KDVR]