Rows of animal rights protesters are preparing to move on Downing Street On Monday, in order to save the Geronimo Alpaca.
Geronimo tested positive for bovine tuberculosis twice, and the Ministry of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs has ordered him to be euthanized.
His master Helen Macdonald removed him from new Zealand Believing that the test returned a false positive, he was denied permission to perform the third test.
Last week, Ms. MacDonald lost her final appeal to save her beloved pet. High court In London, an arrest warrant for his destruction has now been signed.
But she received strong public support, and more than 90,000 people signed a petition calling on Boris Johnson to stop the killing.
The protest will begin at Defra Headquarters in Smith Square, Westminster at 2pm on Monday, and then proceed to the Downing Street gate.
The presentation was organized by Dr. Iain McGill, a member of the Born Freedom Foundation, the Alpaca Association, and a practicing veterinarian and bovine tuberculosis policy expert.
Organizers said that the demonstrators will join some alpacas who have been trained to walk with others and are comfortable in the crowd.
Activists believe that Geronimo does not have tuberculosis and that Defra’s test is likely to be inaccurate.
They require the use of different types of tests to prove Geronimo’s disease state before his death.
Before the protest, Dominique Dyer of the Liberty Foundation said: “For many years, Defra has known that tuberculosis skin tests may cause false positive results for tuberculosis in alpacas.
“However, instead of allowing Geronimo to use the more accurate Actiphage PCR blood test to detect tuberculosis, Secretary Defra George Eustis Continue to order his death to avoid stricter scrutiny of the many failures of the government’s bovine tuberculosis control policies for cattle, alpacas and badgers. “
Like alpacas, badgers have been victims of the fight against bovine tuberculosis since 2013. Since 2013, badgers have used mass culling to prevent the spread, which has aroused strong public opposition.
The protesters called on the Prime Minister to force the Minister of the Environment to stop the killing and immediately conduct the latest bovine tuberculosis test on all suspected cases.
They also hope to see the end of all further badger elimination permits to support vaccination programs for cattle, alpacas and badgers.
“The case of Geronimo the alpaca is likely to prove to be a major turning point in improving bovine tuberculosis control policies in order to better protect the future of cattle, alpacas and our precious wildlife,” Mr. Dell said.
The strong protest against Geronimo’s fate prompted George Eustice from an agricultural background to write an article in the Sunday Mail about his own experience with bovine tuberculosis.
“On average every week, in England alone, we have to remove more than 500 cattle from the herd. Behind every case is a farmer who has suffered losses and tragedies,” he said.
“Farmer It is understood that infected animals pose a threat to the rest of the herd. Therefore, although the loss of individual animals is always a tragedy, the agricultural community has cooperated with our government veterinarian to carry out this difficult but necessary work. “
Ms. MacDonald threatened that if the culling continued and was broadcast on social media, she would film the last moments of her life.
