Outrage in UK over alpaca sentenced to slaughter for bovine tuberculosis

A British owner of a six-year-old alpaca named Gerónimo, convicted after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis, received the support of tens of thousands of people oppose the slaughter of their animal.

An online petition for “Save Geronimo”, whose fate has flowed freely for several days, had collected more than 81,000 signatures on Friday.

At the time of its importation of its Native of New ZealandFour years ago, the camelid underwent four negative skin tests.

However, In the UK, two blood tests and a skin test were carried out, all positive, which led to the authorities ordering the animal to be slaughtered.

If the Minister of the Environment George Eustice stressed Thursday the great reliability of the tests carried out, he did not convince its owner Helen Macdonalds, breeder in Gloucestershire (South West England), who accuses him of “lies” and of wanting to “kill a healthy animal”.

According to her, “since 2016, we know that these tests produce false positives if an alpaca receives more than two injections of tuberculin in 12 months ”.

The affair has grown to such an extent that it reached the Downing Street government, which refused to grant Geronimo an adjournment.

“We know how disruptive the loss of animals to bovine tuberculosis is to pastoralists,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday, but “the Environment Minister has looked into this matter very carefully and confirmed all elements with veterinary experts “. He continued. “Unfortunately, Gerónimo has tested positive twice using highly specific, reliable and validated tests”, he claimed. According to the Ministry of the Environment, these tests have a 0.36% probability of producing a false positive.

But its owner does not give up: “He doesn’t have any (bovine tuberculosis), and the sad part is they won’t know until he dies.”

Last week a court gave her seven days to euthanize him, but she refused, so officials now have 30 days to come to his Gloucestershire farm and kill him themselves. Macdonalds believes the death sentence of the animal it is barbarism “.

(With information from AFP and Reuters)

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