Vet who cares for Geronimo refusing to put animal down amid reprisal fears from animal activists

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The vet caring for Geronimo the alpaca is refusing to put the animal down over fears of the aftermath from activists and campaigners. 

The eight-year-old alpaca is suspected of being infected with bovine tuberculosis and is due to be killed on September 4 after a court order which his owner, Helen Macdonald, is fighting against. 

The 50-year-old from Gloucestershire maintains that tests to detect the disease are returning false positives, and that her beloved pet does not have the illness. 

Geronimo has twice tested positive and Ms Macdonald has been refused permission to have him tested a third time.

The disease, which infects cattle, can jump from species to species including cats, dogs, goats, deer, pigs, badgers and humans. 

A campaign to save Geronimo has attracted support from actress Joanna Lumley, and protesters are gathered at the farm in Gloucestershire, with petition to stop the destruction of the animal gathering more than 130,000 signatures.  

Supporters have been camping out at her farm near Wickwar in case officials from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) arrive to destroy the alpaca.

She has received messages of support from New Zealand, from Malaysia and across Europe. 

Speaking of the petition, she said: ‘It’s just growing by the hour. 

‘It’s huge and it’s very, very welcome because what we are dealing with is not whether Geronimo has TB but the fact they knowingly misused tests to create a suspicion of disease and to kill him four years ago.

‘There’s no science to back up what they’re saying, and we need to move forward in a positive way. Everyone is asking for that now, listen to the electorate and sit down and sort out this properly.’

Ms Macdonald has until Friday evening to arrange for the animal to be put down, but she claims she cannot meet the demands of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).     

She claims her vet is ‘worried about reprisals on them and their family from animal campaigners’ should they put the alpaca down. 

‘They don’t want to come and kill a healthy animal in front of the whole world, on a live internet feed watched by thousands of people,’ she told The Sunday Times.

‘I had the discussion last month with my vet and she said she wouldn’t feel safe to euthanise Geronimo. Safety is a genuine concern.

‘People around the globe have grown to love Geronimo. I wouldn’t want to be the person who puts him down.’

She was given 24 hours to kill the creature herself but she told MailOnline: ‘I’m not going to do that, no way. They would say I consented if I did that.

‘If they want to do it they will have to do it themselves in front of the whole planet. Everyone watching will know that Boris and Eustace are accountable.’

Ms Macdonald has set up a camera, which uploads a live feed to the web, to keep a 24/7 watch on Geronimo over fears of him being snatched after supporters offered to smuggle him out of the farm. 

Others have suggested hiding him among other members of his heard – an idea which Ms Macdonald has called ‘nonsense’ as he is being kept isolated. 

‘Hiding Geronimo away would completely defeat the purpose of what I’ve been trying to do for the last four years, which is make a stand against the government, who are carrying out a TB testing system that is deeply flawed,’ she added.

She warned officials who are set to come and kill the eight-year-old alpaca: ‘The whole planet will be watching.’ 

‘People have tuned in from all over the world – Boris Johnson and George Eustace [the Defra secretary] will have blood on their hands if they kill Geronimo.’

She added that she has ‘heard nothing from Defra, nothing from the ministers, nothing from the chief veterinary officer.’

‘The groundswell of support from around the world and everything that everyone is doing gives me hope that Defra will look at this and say they don’t have any data for multiple priming in camelids and take a pause and look at this properly.’ 

Defra have no yet announced when they plan to destroy the animal. 

A Defra contractor is expected to receive a police escort to kill Geronimo when the time comes.  

His body will then be taken for a post-mortem exam at a government laboratory in Surrey, 

Ms Macdonald believes the false positive test results have come from Geronimo being primed, meaning he had previously been injected with a small amount of bovine tuberculosis to measure any immune response. 

‘I will fight this to the very end,’ she said. ‘I want George Eustice to stand up and make himself accountable. I want him to engage in a meaningful dialogue over this. I have evidence that Defra’s testing regime is not sound, and I would like it to be heard.

‘All I’m asking for is a new test for Geronimo. But they don’t want to do that because the government is scared of the result.’ 

On Wednesday, a High Court judge refused her lawyer’s application for a temporary injunction to stop the destruction order and reopen the case. 

Ms Macdonald said that when Defra officials do attend her farm to euthanise Geronimo, she will not break the law.

Last week, a spokesperson for Defra said: ‘We are sympathetic to Ms Macdonald’s situation, just as we are with everyone with animals affected by this terrible disease.

‘It is for this reason that the testing results and options for Geronimo have been very carefully considered by Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and its veterinary experts, as well as passing several stages of thorough legal scrutiny.

‘Bovine tuberculosis is one of the greatest animal health threats we face today and causes devastation and distress for farming families and rural communities across the country, while costing the taxpayer around £100 million every year.

‘Therefore, while nobody wants to cull infected animals, we need to do everything we can to tackle this disease to stop it spreading and to protect the livelihoods of those affected.’