30 Jul 2021
A high court has ruled that an RVN’s beloved pet alpaca must be euthanised within eight days for carrying bTB, despite evidence disputing the accuracy of tests designed to identify the presence of the disease.
Joshua Silverwood
Job Title
Geronimo the alpaca.
A vet nurse has vowed to hold Defra to account after a high court ruling declared that she has eight days to euthanise her alpaca.
RVN Helen Macdonald lost her four-year battle with Defra yesterday (29 July) after a high court judgement found that there was reasonable suspicion Geronimo the alpaca had bTB.
As previously reported in Vet Times, Ms Macdonald had become embroiled in a disagreement over testing regimes, carried out on Geronimo by the government department, that she argues are inaccurate and based on bad science.
Ms Macdonald said: “We lost, and Geronimo is to be slaughtered. The judgement was delivered at 2 o’clock and the decision was that I have no right to an appeal.
“Once they have established a suspicion of disease there’s no going back. In law that’s all that matters. So, the warrant takes effect on 8 August.
“There’s just been loads of outrage. What I am doing now is calling out George Eustice firstly. I want him to come to the table.
“Christine Middlemiss as well, she’s responsible for the behaviour of her vets at that department and for the past four years she’s done nothing.”
Ms Macdonald, alongside Geronimo’s vet Bob Broadbent, have been continually disputing the science behind the number and type of bTB tests used on the alpaca to ascertain a suspicion of disease.
In 2018, the British Alpaca Society wrote to George Eustice about Geronimo, condemning the decision.
In the letter, the society noted that Geronimo had been exposed to tuberculin through tests on numerous occasions.
It also detailed how Geronimo was exposed to tuberculin “twice within four-and-a-half months, and three times in 14 months”.
Ms Macdonald added: “From a veterinary perspective this is despicable. These tests are unethical. They’re diagnostically unsafe.
“I have been thinking about contacting the RVC and making a complaint about Defra’s conduct.
“At the moment I’m just tired. But I don’t want to let this go. I feel like this is an abuse of animals. They haven’t been spending the time perusing the science; they’re spending the time persecuting the person challenging them.”
