Caesar The No Drama Llama Has Been Calming The Streets Of Portland With His Snuggles

Caesar is an emotional support llama and “llamactivist”

There’s a new sheriff in town helping keep crowds of protestors calm — and his name is “Caesar the No Drama Llama.”

As protests in Portland have raged on for months and tensions have flared with federal law enforcement officers, there’s one cool cat — I mean llama — that has given protestors some much needed peace. According to the Washington Post, Caesar is a retired 6-year-old Argentine grand champion show-llama-turned-therapy-animal and “llamactivist.”

The 5-foot-8, 350-pound llama is known for offering up emotional support hugs to whomever he meets. This came in especially handy during recent protests in Portland.

“I don’t care how big, how staunch, how intense that somebody is — it could be a big marcher in total riot gear, and he will come up and give Caesar a big hug,” said his owner, Larry McCool, 66. “It’s all I can do to just keep him from snuggling.”

He said Caesar’s calming presence was on full display during a night of protests when violence erupted between protestors and federal police. “They’ll be clapping, chanting, stomping, and all of a sudden I’ll get up with Caesar and the next thing I know, everyone will just band around Caesar,” said McCool, noting that he keeps Caesar safely away from any violence to protect him as much as possible. “Caesar brings calm and defuses tension within these extremely volatile situations because everyone loves him as much as he loves everyone.”

Portland isn’t a new scene for the regal animal. Caesar and McCool have already attended ten Black Lives Matter protests in Oregon; and before that, they attended more than 50 marches to support various causes and let Caesar do what he does best: offer snuggles.

“Everyone is looking out for our best interests as much as we’re there for them,” McCool said. “We don’t want to detract from anything. We don’t want to lessen the magnitude of the BLM movement. We recognize how important it is.”

When he’s not calming the masses, Caesar lives in Jefferson, Oregon on the Mystic Llama Farm, where he enjoys being read to, spending time with kids, and doing whatever it is llamas enjoy doing.

“He’s a magical creature,” McCool said. “I wish I could take some credit for him, but he’s developed all on his own. I’ve been his tutor and his guide, but sometimes I’m the one following him.”