Last month, the Times of Malta carried a picture on the front page (January 14) of a young girl handling a docile Alpaca, which grows to about 90cm tall. Were it not for the affection the Times of Malta has for animals we would know much less about the animals existing on the island.

Alpacas have been domesticated for thousands of years. When mentioning a camel, the first thing that comes to mind is the hump on the back. However, the Alpacas are one of the only four types of the camelid family that do not have one. Their lifespan ranges between 15 and 20 years.

But my intention is not to write about the Alpacas but to repeat what it is that tourists enjoy seeing. The Alpaca pictured in this newspaper was one of many of animals of different types taken to be blessed on the feast of St Anthony the Abbot, patron saint of animals. This is what the tourists enjoy seeing and not 38-storey-high buildings.