Calls for Carrie to save Geronimo the alpaca

Alpaca’s owner asks PM’S wife to intervene as Defra orders animal with bovine tuberculosis to be culled

Carrie Johnson is facing calls to intervene over Geronimo the alpaca as protesters pledged to create a “human shield” around it. Geronimo has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis twice, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has a 30-day window legally to slaughter the animal. Demonstrators will march on Westminster today and organiser Dominic Dyer has joined Helen Macdonald, Geronimo’s owner, calling for the Prime Minister’s wife to help.

CARRIE JOHNSON is facing calls to intervene on behalf of Geronimo the alpaca as protesters pledged to create a “human shield” around the condemned animal to stop it from being killed.

Geronimo has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (BTB) twice, and last week the High Court ruled that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had a 30-day window to legally slaughter the animal.

However, Helen Macdonald, Geronimo’s owner, is disputing the validity of the BTB tests and said last night that her last hope is for the Prime Minister to intervene, and that she “would love Carrie’s support” on this issue.

Last night Stanley Johnson, the Prime Minister’s father, waded into the row calling on the Environment Secretary to end his “murderous errand” to euthanise the animal. Demonstrators will march on Westminster today and organiser Dominic Dyer has joined Ms Macdonald in her call for the Prime Minister’s wife to help. Mr Dyer, former head of the Badger Trust, plans to call on Mrs Johnson to use her “significant influence”.

Back at her farm in Wickwar, near Bristol, Ms Macdonald says peaceful activists will form a “human shield” around Geronimo, in case Defra contractors arrive to slaughter it with the distraction of the protest in the capital.

“This is about Geronimo’s life, he’s a sentient being. But it is also about my life and my family’s life,” said Ms Macdonald. “Mum is 84 today. She asked me ‘are they going to shoot Geronimo on my birthday?’”

The protest will start at Defra headquarters, and march to Downing Street.

Mrs Johnson is director of communications at the Aspinall Foundation, a charity “dedicated to returning captive bred animals to protected wilderness” and a patron for the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, independent from the party. In 2017, she tweeted: “The Conservatives will make sure animal sentience is recognised in UK law. But we want to go further and become a world leader in protecting animals.”

In 2019 Mr Dyer briefed Mrs Johnson on badger culling in Derbyshire, and three weeks later Defra stopped a cull. The National Farmers Union applied for a judicial review, noting the “personal interest” the Prime Minister had taken.

The judge dismissed their claim and stated that the Secretary of State was “entitled to take into consideration the views expressed to him by senior colleagues”. Supporters want Geronimo checked again, using a PCR test, believing that is more accurate. But Christine Middlemiss, the chief veterinary officer, said the accuracy of the tests already used is not in question.

“The tests were developed for use on alpacas and are highly specific – the chances of a false positive are significantly less than 1 per cent,” she said.

Defra said: “BTB is one of the greatest animal health threats and causes devastation and distress for farming families and rural communities while costing the taxpayer around £100million a year.”

sir – The continued reluctance to switch to electric cars (Letters, August 5) suggests people think that the policy to move towards this form of propulsion is unwise. The lack of suitable charging facilities, the costs and length of life of replacement batteries, and the generating capacity needed are all prominent in the minds of car owners.

A further issue concerns the problems of breakdown. The batteries are very heavy, so that in the event of (say) a punctured tyre, lifting the vehicle by traditional methods becomes impracticable, as raising one corner can distort the chassis or frame. It is recommended that the vehicle be raised on a platform hoist. This would make roadside recovery either impossible or very expensive and certainly not achievable by a stranded motorist. Peter Gray

Tunbridge Wells, Kent installations be considered as major components of our future sustainable energy strategy when the materials used for these batteries have a finite and rapidly diminishing supply? Dr George Lindsay

Kinross

sir – I am lucky enough to be a Tesla owner with a home charger. It is great fun to drive, fast yet practical, and very cheap to run.

Contrary to Dr Michael Blackmore’s point (Letters, August 4), I believe that electric vehicle car costs will come down as technology advances – but otherwise I agree with him entirely. How will the Government recoup the billions in fuel duty and road tax? What is the plan to install enough high-speed chargers to make electric vehicles practical? How will people with no off-road parking or fixed parking space cope? Finally, how will the thousands of worn-out batteries be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner?

I feel like my Tesla and I are on our

sir – Electric car batteries and computerised control systems use irreplaceable rare metals such as lithium, which are toxic to mine and process. They are also difficult to recycle.

The 1989 UN Basel Convention prohibits the movement of such toxic heavy metals as hazardous waste. Both the US and European countries refuse to abide by this and presently export much of this waste to Asia and Africa. Not only is the ecological cost of this unsustainable, so too is the economic cost.

New policies using fuels such as hydrogen and alternative materials to rare metals require urgent consideration for future transport to be truly green and sustainable. Clearly, electric cars are neither. Elizabeth Marshall

Edinburgh