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April 23, 1989, Page 001001Buy Reprints The New York Times Archives

Thousands of miles from their home in the cool mountains of South America, a herd of woolly llamas and alpacas have been stranded on a Caribbean island and are slowly dying from heat and stress in the broiling sun.

The gentle, long-necked llamas and alpacas, distant cousins of the camel, were shipped here by American investors who hoped to sell them in the United States for about $30,000 each as pets, pack animals for hikers and breeding stock in a skyrocketing market.

But when a group of local people, feuding with the Antigua Government and angry at one of the Americans, blocked access to a quarantine station, the animals were shunted to a barren chunk of coral rock and scrub brush, off the east coast of Antigua, where there is little shade and no fresh water. 'They've Never Seen a Tree'

About a month ago the Americans left Chile with 268 llamas and alpacas. By today 179 were still alive, including the last survivor of what had been a group of 20 nursing mothers.

''We're losing about two a day,'' said Francie Stull, a Russian wolfhound breeder from Texas who contracted to buy 160 of the animals for $1.2 million and has already resold 49 of them for $500,000.

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''These animals were born and raised above the tree line at 14,000 feet,'' Ms. Stull said. ''They've never seen a tree and they don't know to seek shade. We spend all day getting them up and running them into the shade. And there's very little shade to run them in to.'' A Small Shaded Area

The Antigua Government is offering no suggestions on what to do with the animals and the Americans say they are at a loss. Since the orginal reason to quarantine them was concern that they might be carrying foot and mouth disease, experts say it is unlikely that any country would permit their entry.

Each day as the sun climbs toward its zenith, the docile animals huddle silently, staring vacantly at the scrub brush and the sparkling Caribbean sea.

''When their temperatures hit 102 degrees we move them to the infirmary,'' Ms. Stull said, indicating a small shaded area covered by a blue plastic tarpulin with intrevenous bottles and tubes dangling from a tree limb.

Some experts have recommended shearing the animals, but Ms. Stull said some of the first to die were those whose coats had been thinned. Plan for Wildlife Park

In the last decade llamas have become a trendy pet in the United States. The International Llama Association in Denver estimates that there are 25,000 in the country. Michael Jackson has one. Kim Novak and Dennis Weaver breed them, according to the association. Llamas were reportedly kept near the home of Abbie Hoffman, who died last week. Some females have sold for as much as $80,000, the association said, and a prize stud llama recently brought $115,000 at auction.

The association says Llamas are tranquil animals and that many people just ''like being around them.'' Owners say llamas can be housebroken.

The herd of llamas and alpacas landed here, about 250 miles east of Puerto Rico, as the result of a complicated plan devised by two American friends, David Strickland, who has been doing business in Antigua for about 10 years, and Keith Kerr, a Florida construction company owner. Mr. Strickland is a partner in a cement company here with Lester Bird, the Deputy Prime Minister, and two other Cabinet ministers.

It got started, Mr. Strickland said, with a remark by the Deputy Prime Minister that it would be marvelous if Antigua, which lives almost entirely from tourism, had a zoo or some sort of wildlife park.

Mr. Kerr had a private zoo and the two Americans decided to move his lions, tigers, elephants and monkeys to Antigua. To do that, they had to build a quarantine station. Opposition to Union

Mr. Kerr had heard there was money to be made in llamas, and he persuaded Mr. Strickland that with two plane loads of the animals they could raise $2 million or so to pay for the wild-life park and the quarantine station.

They both insist they were not looking for profit but merely wanted the pleasure of displaying the animals.

After some vaciliation on where to put the two installations, the Government suggested the neighboring island of Barbuda, a nearly deserted place about 10 minutes by air from Antigua with about 1,200 residents and a wild, unspoiled beauty.

The two islands became the independent nation of Antigua-Barbuda in 1981. But Barbuda doggedly fought against the union and begged Britain to permit it to remain a colony rather than fall under the domination of Antigua and its 80,000 people.

Last November, Antigua notified Barbuda of Mr. Strickland's plans. Barbuda protested and, according to Barbudans and a central Government official, the Government agreed to shelve the projects.

Two weeks later, however, Mr. Strickland began building the quarantine center.

The Barbudans have been quarreling with Mr. Strickland for years. To them, he has been the main figure in a company that has been exporting the island's sand for use in construction and paying the Barbudans only a fraction of what they think it is worth.

On March 23 a barge loaded with llamas and alpacas arrived in Barbuda.

A crowd quickly formed and blocked the landing. The Barbudans say they feared disease, but that they also decided to take a stand against Antigua and Mr. Strickland.

Antigua sent police reinforcements. But eventually the Americans left with their llamas.

Mr. Strickland said he and Mr. Kerr and two other American partners have lost several hundred thousand dollars.

There are some puzzling aspects to their enterprise. One is that the Department of Agriculture said that the quarantine station does not meet Washington standards and that the animals probably would not have been permitted into the United States in any case. Another is that Mr. Strickland expresses surprise at the Barbudans's rejection of the scheme. Antigua Is Faulted

He faults the Antigua Government for authorizing the quarantine station and not forcing the Barbudans to back down and said he had appealed to American Congressmen and Senators to ''put pressure'' on Antigua for compensation.

Mr. Bird said through an aide that he was too busy to speak with a reporter. Other Government officials did not return phone calls. On Thursday Mr. Bird's aide said the Government had decided that the Americans could turn the barren island into a temporary quarantine station as they had requested.

The Americans said they never asked for that and that the idea was ''unacceptable.'' In the meantime, they started putting up more tarpulins for shade.

Ms. Stull said she just wanted to get the llamas off the little island to some place ''where we don't have to struggle for survival every day.''

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