British government euthanized the Gerónimo alpaca to prevent bovine tuberculosis | After a four-year legal battle

British authorities massacred on Tuesday to the Gerónimo alpaca for prevent transmission of bovine tuberculosis, after a four-year legal battle with the animal’s owner.

The British Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on Tuesday confirmed in a statement the execution of the alpaca after obtaining a judicial authorization to remove it from the facilities where it was located, in the west of England.

Owner of Geronimo, farmer Helen Macdonald, filmed the execution of the animal live to expose the case. In addition to legal disputes, the woman was responsible for making the situation visible and succeeded in organizing massive mobilizations and collect more than 100,000 signatures to save Gerónimo.

Macdonald imported the alpaca from New Zealand in 2017 after testing negative four times in the bovine tuberculosis test.

Once in the UK, Macdonald subjected Gerónimo to a new voluntary test in which positive god, a result that was repeated in another test in November 2017. This led to the order of execution of the animal, which has since been quarantined.

Macdonald appealed the decision in court in a long legal battle worth more than 80,000 pounds (94,350 euros) arguing that the tests to which the alpaca was subjected were inaccurate and produced “false positives”, so there was no not enough evidence to run it.

According to Defra, the percentage of accuracy of this type of test -which is also used in bullfights- is greater than 99% and you only have a 0.34% chance of having a false positive.

“No one wants to euthanize infected animals if it can be avoided, but we need to follow the scientific evidence and euthanize animals that have tested positive to minimize the spread of this insidious disease,” said Defra veterinary director Christine Middlemiss , in the press release.

Bovine tuberculosis is an infectious disease found in cattle and other mammals, and one of the greatest animal health challenges in England. In 2020, more than 27,000 head of cattle were slaughtered to prevent transmission, leaving economic impacts in rural communities of more than 116.4 million euros per year.