Geronimo: Minister urged not to allow alpaca death ‘in front of whole world’on August 6, 2021 at 1:38 pm
The alpaca’s owner urges the minister not to allow Geronimo’s death “in front of the whole world”.
image sourceHelen Macdonald
The owner of a condemned alpaca has urged the environment secretary not to allow the death of “a healthy animal in front of the whole world”.
Geronimo was condemned to death by a High Court judge after twice testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
Owner Helen Macdonald disputes the results but Environment Secretary George Eustice said a “highly specific and reliable test” was used.
More than 80,000 have signed a petition asking the prime minister to step in.
The 50-year-old veterinary nurse, who breeds the species at her farm in Wickwar, south Gloucestershire, has been locked in a legal battle with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) since 2017.
She has repeatedly appealed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Mr Eustice to halt the destruction order, which she claims was based on inaccurate testing.
Speaking publicly on the issue for the first time on Thursday, Mr Eustice said Geronimo had “tested positive twice using a highly specific and reliable test”.
“I have looked at this case several times over the last three years and gone through all of the evidence with the chief vet and other experts in detail,” he said.
- Bovine TB is a chronic, infectious disease caused by a slow-growing bacterium, Mycobacterium bovis
- All mammals, including humans, are susceptible to bovine TB
- Infection is mainly through inhalation or ingestion of bacteria
- Transmission can occur via nose to nose contact and via contact with saliva, urine, faeces and milk
- The bacterium can remain viable in the environment from a few days to many months
Source: UK Government and TB Hub
“My own family have a pedigree herd of South Devon cattle and we have lost cows to TB, so I know how distressing it can be and have huge sympathy for farmers who suffer loss.”
A second warrant to execute the alpaca came into effect on Thursday after a last-ditch High Court bid to save Geronimo failed.
Defra has 30 days to visit Ms Macdonald’s farm and put him down, which means a contractor could legally force entry to her property and shoot Geronimo, she told Sky News earlier.
Responding to the Mr Eustice’s statement, Ms Macdonald, said: “The testing has never been validated.
“If he’s willing to kill a healthy animal in front of the whole world without testing him properly first, then it’s a sorry state of affairs.”
She said she had been put through “four years of abject hell” and it was “like talking to a brick wall”.
“I don’t want Geronimo’s last moments to be of being caught by a man who will put a gun to his head before he’s shot,” she said.
“And I assure you – [Geronimo] hasn’t got it. And the sad thing is, they’ll realise that only when he’s dead and they’ve carried out a post-mortem on him, and then it’s too late.”
Defra has defended its methods after it was revealed the tests have never been trialled for their accuracy in detecting bovine tuberculosis in alpacas, and that Geronimo had tested negative on four occasions in New Zealand.
“We are sympathetic to Ms Macdonald’s situation – just as we are with everyone with animals affected by this terrible disease,” a spokesman said.
“It is for this reason that the testing results and options for Geronimo have been very carefully considered by Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and its veterinary experts, as well as passing several stages of thorough legal scrutiny.”
- Geronimo the alpaca has been tested twice with the Enferplex blood test, says Defra
- The UK government says this is the same test used on “a prize bull”
- Owner Helen Macdonald says there is insufficient evidence as to the accuracy of this relatively new test when used on alpacas
- Defra says Enferplex has a 0.34% chance of showing a false positive
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