Owner of culled alpaca Geronimo demands answers from new Labour Government

Helen Macdonald wants an urgent meeting with new ministers on the third anniversary of the culling.

Helen Macdonald joins members of the Justice for Geronimo and Stop Badger Cull campaigns at a protest outside the offices of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in central London after Geronimo was culled (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Archive)

The owner of an alpaca who was culled three years ago has called for the new Labour Government to provide answers about how Geronimo died.

Helen Macdonald wants a meeting with Environment Secretary Steve Reed about her case.

Geronimo, who had twice tested positive for bovine TB, was put down by vets on August 31 2021 after his owner lost a lengthy legal fight to halt the culling.

Ms Macdonald was campaigning for the move to be halted after insisting bovine tuberculosis tests returned false positives.

She had wanted Geronimo to be tested for a third time or allowed to live to aid research into the disease.

The veterinary nurse argued the Enferplex test was fundamentally flawed and said Geronimo tested positive because he had repeatedly been primed with tuberculin – a purified protein derivative of bovine TB bacteria.

The alpaca was put down after police and staff from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) arrived at Ms Macdonald’s farm near Wickwar, south Gloucestershire.

At the time, Defra said initial post-mortem examination tests had found a “number of TB-like lesions” but further tests would be carried out.

Those tests failed to provide conclusive findings about the source of the animal’s bovine TB, the Government said.

Ms Macdonald said she still does not know how Geronimo died after the alpaca was removed from her farm and loaded into a trailer and taken away.

As a direct result of the abuse inflicted by Defra for the last seven years there has been no closure for us as a family or a community

Helen Macdonald

She has complaints lodged with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and the Independent Office for Police Conduct about the operation to cull the animal.

“Given the weight of the evidence available to the PHSO and the lack of any credible defence offered by Defra we expect the PHSO to uphold our complaint in full and for Defra to address the very valid questions we have raised persistently for years,” Ms McDonald said.

“As a direct result of the abuse inflicted by Defra for the last seven years there has been no closure for us as a family or a community. Geronimo’s companions remain in their isolation unit today.

“Not only have we lost Geronimo, our business has experienced significant financial losses due to movement restrictions.

“We have a pedigree alpaca herd of the highest health status with exemplary biosecurity and yet are unable to trade.

“It feels like a direct abuse of power. How can the Government behave like this towards its farmers?

“These are unjustifiable and unreasonable acts of cruelty. Lessons must be learned and those responsible for causing so much distress to so many must be fully held to account.”

Ms Macdonald is requesting an urgent meeting with Steve Reed, the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and farming minster Daniel Zeichner.

“I am imploring the new Government to, as a first step, remove the movement restrictions. Mr Reed could do this immediately,” she said.

“Investigating Defra’s continued mistreatment of me is critical. There must be an immediate end to the abuse that we are still suffering unjustifiably.”

A Defra spokeswoman said: “Our sympathies remain with all those with animals affected by this terrible disease which devastates farmers’ livelihoods.

“It is important to remember that infected animals can spread the disease to both animals and people before displaying clinical signs, which is why we take action quickly to limit the risk of the disease spreading.”