Geronimo Alpaca: Government insists decision to cull animals will not be reversed as protesters march in Downing Street | UK news

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The government insisted that the alpacas should be suppressed from Jeronimo, as animal rights protesters in Downing Street campaigned for his rescue.

The animal, aged six, has twice been tested positive for bovine tuberculosis and is scheduled to be euthanized.

The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) has ordered it to be dropped, and Geronimo’s owner, Helen MacDonald, has lost her last appeal in London’s High Court to save her beloved creature.

Photo: His owner, Helen MacDonald, believes the tests are giving false positives but has been denied permission to test him for the third time.

MacDonald, who imported Jeronimo from New Zealand, believes the bovine tuberculosis tests were giving false positive results, but permission to test him for a third time was denied.

There was a huge outpouring of support from the public to save the condemned alpaca, with more than 100,000 people signing a petition calling for Boris Johnson to stop the killing.

On Monday afternoon, protesters gathered outside Devra’s headquarters in Westminster before marching to the gates of Downing Street.

Some carried banners that read “We stand with Jeronimo” and “We stand with Geronimo.”[George] Eustis, admit you are wrong.”

The Born Free Foundation, which helped organize the march, said there were no alpacas at the protest due to “safety concerns”.

Protesters are calling for a different type of tuberculosis (TB) test to be used to establish a case of Geronimo’s disease before it is extinguished.

Photo: Nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for Boris Johnson to stop the killing

But despite the mounting pressure, Downing Street insisted there would be no reprieve to Keronimo and that the case had been “very carefully considered”.

“We know how painful it is to lose animals to tuberculosis for anyone. That is why the environment minister has looked into this very carefully and questioned all the evidence,” the prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters on Monday.

“The fact remains that unfortunately Geronimo’s test results are twice as positive using a very specific, reliable and reliable test.

“This is something the environment minister has considered very carefully.”

Prime Minister Stanley Johnson’s father also intervened to save Jeronimo.

But Business Secretary Kwasi Quarting told Kay Burley that he was “not sure where Stanley is coming from on this”.

Image: Business Minister Kwasi Kwarting said the issue surrounding the animal was an ‘August story’

“My understanding is that the alpaca tested positive for tuberculosis and the rules are that it should be eliminated, because bovine tuberculosis really harms farmers and people who make a living in agriculture and that’s why we have this policy,” he told Sky News.

Mr. Kwarteng added: “I don’t think it’s a PR disaster; I think, you say, it’s an August story. It’s obviously difficult because there are a lot of people emotionally invested in an animal story, but there is politics and there is no reason why it shouldn’t stick to politics.”

In addition to alpacas, the badger has been a victim of the fight against bovine tuberculosis, with controversial mass culling used to stop its spread since 2013.

Speaking before the protest, Dominic Dyer of the Born Free Foundation said: “Devra has known for many years that skin testing for tuberculosis can lead to false positives for tuberculosis in alpacas.

“However, rather than allowing Geronimo’s TB test using a blood test that is more accurate than Actiphage PCR, Defra Secretary George Eustice continues to order his death to avoid further scrutiny of the government’s many failures in the government’s control of bovine TB in cattle, alpacas and badgers.”

Photo: Mrs MacDonald has lost her last appeal to save her beloved pet at the High Court in London

But writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Eustice said: “Farmers understand that infected animals are a danger to the rest of their flock, so while the loss of individual animals is always a tragedy, farming communities have worked with our government vets in this arduous but necessary endeavor. “.

Ms MacDonald threatened to film the alpaca’s last moments if the killing continued and broadcast it on social media.

Activists have joined Ms MacDonald on her farm in Wickwar, Gloucestershire, to protest the imminent fate of Jeronimo.

“This is an animal injustice that everyone can deal with, and people from all sectors of agriculture come to support us,” Ms MacDonald said.

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