20-05-2025
Woman sues supermarket after ‘therapy alpaca' refused entry
When Abbygail-Nigella Borst goes shopping, she takes all the things she needs, including her 'therapy alpaca', Violet.
Borst relies on the cloven-hoofed camelid to keep her calm in public and help alert her carer whenever she is about to have a panic attack.
But there was no staying calm when Borst tried entering the IGA Everyday supermarket, a family-owned grocery chain, in the Tasmanian seaside town of Orford.
Staff ordered Violet to leave because of concerns over food hygiene. They argued that alpacas are livestock and do not qualify as assistance animals, such as guide dogs, which are allowed full access to public facilities.
Borst and her partner Desmond Gaull, who own a 50-acre farm training other alpacas to become therapy animals, filed a
