Geronimo the Alpaca loses his battle

[Catherine]

Geronimo is an Alpaca in the UK. He was imported from New Zealand several years ago. He was negative for Bovine TB when he arrived. He has since had two positive Bovine TB tests. His owner and a large number of animal activists have been fighting for him ever since. There have been petitions and court cases to stop the euthanasia order. 
Sadly government veterinarians and police officers arrived on Tuesday and took Geronimo away and killed him.


https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/geronimo-th...-1.5567736

https://torontosun.com/news/world/geroni...lic-outcry

Geronimo's supporters were asking for one more test. False positives can happen. One more test would have made sure that they were not making a mistake.
It wasn't an unreasonable request. Sadly it was denied. 
It seems a little cruel that they came as a group and took the Alpaca away. He would have been scared. It could have been done quietly at the farm with little distress to the animal. He was a gentle little creature and he deserved that much. It was not kindly done.

Of course the other animals that are culled because of Bovine TB and not given the benefit of tests or kindness. The Badgers are hunted down and killed. 
It hasn't even been shown that this culling helps stop the spread of Bovine TB.

RIP Geronimo, victim of a battle that is not of his making.

[LPC]

You are 100% right. Unfortunately Eustice, the Tory Sec of State for Agriculture, used to be a farmer and is determined to pursue any cases of TB in animals (badgers, alpacas - anything he can find).

The bovine TB test is not appropriate for alpacas (neither for badgers). Geronimo came from New Zealand and had a different TB test there before travelling to the UK. It was negative. But Eustice is stubborn and would only accept a UK bovine test.

Hence the euthanisation of healthy Geronimo. A truly sad story.

[Catherine]

I wondered about the test. Geronimo arrived with a negative test from New Zealand.  New Zealand has high standards so I would trust their testing. Geronimo has lived in one place. Where would he even have been exposed to Bovine TB. 

I understand the urgency to fight Bovine TB, but the methods are outdated. This is what happens when a government minister has a strong bias. 
They only see their own point of view and it influences how things are done. The best choices are not being made. 

You end up with a gentle Alpaca being the victim of this bias.
This did not have to happen and it should not have happened.
It certainly shouldn't have happened the way it did.

I feel sad for a gentle creature that died in fear and distress when he shouldn't have died at all.

[LPC]

Update on the above:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho...13852.html

The alpaca was badly handled by the DEFRA vets. There are suspicions that Geronimo may have died in the animal trailer because of being tied up like a horse, whereas alpacas "kush" (lie down) when transported. Many vets have never had any experience with alpacas.

DEFRA refused to allow an independent vet to witness the post-mortem, despite a legal right to this. The result of the post-mortem has not been released. This may be because DEFRA does not want to admit that it made a mistake.

The British Alpaca Society is going to pursue this gross abuse of power by DEFRA.

[Catherine]

I am glad they are going to keep fighting this. Everyone involved should be held accountable.
They clearly didn't know how to handle an Alpaca. Bringing a crowd like that was wrong. They distressed Geronimo right from the start. 

If Geronimo was dead when they took him out of the trailer there will be some surveillance camera that caught it. At the very least they need to show video of Geronimo walking out of the trailer alive. If they refuse to show anything like that, then we know things were not alright when he arrived. They wouldn't have wanted an independent vet viewing the autopsy. There was probably no evidence of Bovine TB, but there would have been evidence of any injuries that occurred after Geronimo was removed from the farm.

Good for the British Alpaca Society for pursuing this. 
It is time that DEFRA was held accountable for their actions.