Last-ditch bid to save ‘death row’ alpaca Geronimo
AFARMER is to make a final attempt in the High Court to save her alpaca from being shot – after it tested positive for bovine TB.
Helen Macdonald’s animal Geronimo was ordered to be slaughtered after twice testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTb).
She has always disputed the test result – claiming the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is “relying doggedly on flawed science”.
Now Helen, 48, is due to make a final attempt in the High Court to save her alpaca from slaughter.
It is the latest twist in a legal saga that has been running for nearly four years.
The South Gloucestershire farmer took out an emergency injunction to delay a warrant to cull the animal before an appeal hearing on July 29.
Defra is set to kill Geronimo and said it was “inappropriate to comment” given legal proceedings.
Helen told the BBC: “If I lose the appeal then Geronimo will be shot. It’s certainly looking that way at the moment.
“I know we have to eradicate TB but we don’t have to kill a healthy animal.”
She previously lost a High Court appeal to challenge the Environment Secretary’s refusal to allow Geronimo to be re-tested in 2019.
It is illegal to test an animal without permission.
Geronimo has been in quarantine with five other alpacas on her farm in Wickwar since arriving in the UK in August 2017.
The stud had tested negative for bovine TB in New Zealand but when Helen agreed to a voluntary test as part of national surveillance of the disease the result came back positive.
Defra decided to conduct a second test in November 2017, which also came back positive, and Geronimo was earmarked for slaughter.
In the past four years the restrictions enforced on her alpaca farm mean she has been unable to trade livestock or receive any income from it.
There is a legal requirement to report the disease if present or suspected in a herd, but there is no requirement for alpacas to be regularly tested.
Under the Animal Health Act 1981 Defra’s secretary of state only needs to suspect the disease is present to order the slaughter of animals and limit its spread.
The British Alpaca Society is calling for more research into the testing. The society’s CEO Duncan Pullar told the BBC: “The system was put in place to test TB in cattle.
“There will be some false positives and some false negatives.
“It’s frustrating that there are no learning opportunities as to why he is fit and healthy but has a failed test against his name.”
Alpacas have a natural lifespan of about 20 years, according to the British Alpaca Society.