Hope you are all ok. Well it has been a bit mixed up this week – the issue of ‘Geronimo’ here in England ended up with us getting more involved than we first thought – see:
Have all taken up a bit more time for us, at the expense of other things. But we don’t have a problem with this as he was used as a scapegoat by Defra.
Now we are trying to catch up with some posts and hope to get them out this weekend.
There are a few new posts for you to see, and all being well we will be back and running ok next week.
Animal abuse in the cattle dragging contest of Gran Canaria! The PACMA files a complaint
We document the cruelty of the “cattle dragging” and denounce several irregularities committed in the final of the Gran Canaria contest.
On July 11, the Grand Final of the XXXIII Dragging Contest of the Island of Gran Canaria took place, a cruelty in which cows, bulls and oxen are forced to pull loads of up to 1,500 kg in races against the clock.
From PACMA we document it to show the violence of this activity and the mistreatment that animals receive, in addition to several irregularities that we report to the Ministry of Public Administrations, Justice and Security, the Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing and the Government of the Canary Islands.
We have received a reply from the General Directorate of Livestock of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, thanking the notice and informing that they have requested a detailed report from the Canary Trawling Federation, given the possibility of initiating a sanctioning file that we hope will be make cash.
The suffering of ‘cattle dragging’
In these images, recorded by our team in the Canary Islands, it is clearly seen how the rings or chains that the animals have ringed to the nasal septum are pulled with force, causing them more than obvious pain. Their deformed snouts and bulging eyes are clear proof of the suffering they are enduring.
This practice contravenes the Technical Regulations of the Canarian Drag Federation and the Law of Physical Activity and Sports of the Canary Islands and we made it known to the administrations.
In our complaint we demand an investigation and that the pertinent responsibilities be determined, as well as the withdrawal of the license of the people who exercised this mistreatment and their disqualification for the profession, trade or trade related to animals and their possession.
At PACMA, we have been demanding the prohibition of this practice for years, which always implies submission and pain for animals, but, until we achieve its abolition, we will continue to press legal means, denouncing every irregularity to corner those who mistreat animals in the courts.
And I mean…The competition participants invented terrifying lies to justify this brutal sport. They say … “In addition to the fact that this sport is completely harmless to the animals (the rules of the game prevent that), it has also helped to save a native breed of cattle on the island, the Vaca Basta, from extinction”.
The tests are carried out against the clock and have a duration of 3 minutes so that the animals cover the entire distance,except in the special categories cows and bulls (1,100 kg or 1,500 kg train weight), which take 5 minutes.
The winning team will be the one who manages the route, the 70 meters, in the shortest possible time.
Forced and intense exercises, abrupt and violent, cause joint diseases, their nerve endings suffer considerably, and cause severe pain to the animal, which could only be described as animal suffering.
Cows and oxen pant with their tongues sticking out, indicating increased heart and respiratory rates, drool and foam at the mouth. They are reluctant to advance, they go off the track with clear escape attempts caused by fatigue and fear.
The Corsa weighs around 200 kilos (?), which must be added to the load deposited on it and the friction index on the surface. It is also forbidden to tie animals by their horns, nose rings or legs. As we can see from the photos, it becomes clear to everyone that these animals suffer from this illegal ring, both in herds and in competitions
The reasons why the Canarian Government justifies this activity are based on something that we have already heard with relative frequency in other demonstrations in which animals are invited not to have fun, that is: the recovery of a deeply rooted “tradition”, and the promotion and breeding of the Canarian Breed and the Palmera Breed cattle;
The Government of the Canary Islands, through the Directorate General for Sports, allocates more than 1 million euros (1,020,600 euros) to promote local and traditional sports.The messages do not specifically relate to “dragging”.
We urge that any activity in which animals of any kind are used for fun and entertainment should be declared illegal.
We urge that those farmers who are committed to raising these animals for the sake of maintaining such medieval competitions should not receive any public subsidies
The future belongs to a humane and compassionate civilization.
UK to crack down on dognappers with new pet abduction offence
Thieves will face tougher penalties under legislation unveiled by government after surge in crimes
Dognappers will face tougher penalties under government plans to introduce a criminal offence of pet abduction.
Pet theft is currently prosecuted under the Theft Act and is subsequently treated as loss of property to the owner, which for years campaigners have been saying fails to recognise the emotional distress caused by the crime.
Amid a surge in animal thefts during the Covid pandemic, the offence of pet abduction will be introduced through primary legislation and will cover all pet theft, although evidence found 70% of reported animal thefts involve dogs.
The new offence unveiled on Friday is one of a number of recommendations put forward by the government’s pet theft taskforce, set up earlier in the year to address the rising numbers of such cases, which found the price of some breeds of dog had increased by as much as 89% during the coronavirus lockdowns.
In a report, the taskforce also recommends improving recording and data collection about pet abduction crimes, new requirements to register additional ownership details, and a single point of access to microchipping databases.
The RSPCA chief executive, Chris Sherwood, said: “Pet theft can leave families in utter turmoil and have serious welfare implications for animals ripped away from everything they know.
“The new pet abduction offence will acknowledge the seriousness of this crime and we hope this will encourage courts to hand out much tougher sentences to pet thieves. We’re also thrilled that the government wants to simplify the microchipping database system and we believe this will help to tackle pet theft as well as other animal welfare issues and irresponsible pet ownership generally.”
Experts and campaigners have said research has shown a 170% increase in reported pet thefts between 2019 and 2020, but that only 1% of dog theft crimes had led to a prosecution.
The price of some puppies has quadrupled during the pandemic and, as responsible breeders slowed down their operations, a black market has emerged to fill the gap in demand, they said.
Thieves have targeted “fashion breeds” and designer crossbreeds in high demand, including French bulldogs, pugs, cockapoos and labradoodles.
Dog thieves are stalking parks in affluent areas and luring puppies out of gardens with treats, while some have mugged dog-walkers for their pets and raided boarding kennels.
Ministers have yet to confirm what sort of penalties those convicted of pet abduction could face but said the new offence would prioritise the welfare of pets as sentient beings and recognise the distress to the animal in addition to its owner.
The environment secretary, George Eustice, whose department this week signed off the killing of Geronimo the alpaca, said: “Pets are much-loved members of the family in households up and down the country, and reports of a rise in pet theft have been worrying. Pet owners shouldn’t have to live in fear, and I am pleased this report acknowledges the unique distress caused by this crime.”
🏴 STORY OF THE LIBERATION OF SEVEN CALVES FROM A SLAUGHTERHOUSE: “WE OWN THE NIGHT !” [CHAPTER 1]
★ Telling this story means being indebted to our comrades.
Indebted to the animals we met in these places, a striking meeting causing a cry of anger in hour hearts.
Indebted to the non-human individuals we live with in our shelters, Indebted to all those forced workers whose very lives have become a commodity, those convicts who have paid and pay every day the price of our world.
We recognise our huge debt to them.
Because we are not the people concerned – the oppressed who suffer from the speciesist domination against which we rise up as accomplices – our words will always be too weak, almost vulgar, and certainly not up to the level of what the oppressed are living, nor of their infinite resistance; they will always be too weak to describe the beauty and strength of those moments when the oppressed and their accomplices have linked up to succeed in attacking the death machine and escaping from it.
We drop this text like a bomb.
We issue an injunction to action hoping to spread a powerful desire for direct action. A text with a bomb-like effect, as beautiful as a firework.
For our enemies, words are as dangerous as gunpowder.
We have been in the thick of this action for a few weeks now.
After a long and difficult night, while we were sitting in the back in the straw with the calves, we finally crossed the border at dawn and could take off our hoods.
We all thought one thing: we will have to tell the story of that night. This is our duty.
A duty for those who are with us in the van and especially for those we let behind us.
A duty and a will to cause sparks ready to burst into flames. Because animal liberation is a war and we attend to win it…
Because our tears are real and we feel so much pain in our hearts, but we are prepared to fight for it, to follow our words with actions.
★ Blowing on the fire to spread it.
However, we must admit that defending this point of view and calling for direct actions – that we would like to be massive and offensive -, is not easy facing the bourgeois pacifism and the harmlessness of veganism.
When this desire still exists among some of us, its political content is often polished and watered down, reduced to an aesthetic thing shared on social media.
But every direct action against the system of domination is an incendiary.
Now, we have to blow on the fire to make it spread…
Above all, this liberation proves that even in these times, it is still possible to act and to contribute to the construction of a revolutionary antispeciesist movement, getting rid of all reformism of all universalist and paternalistic aspirations – a movement and a fight belonging to the class struggle.
Reformists believe, or pretend to believe, that this society can be changed by rational and moral appeals to the dominant ones or by political means thanks to a legally elected government. It is an illusion or a swindle.
There is no example in the history of emancipation movements where victories were won without real changes and revolutionary actions.
There will be no human or animal liberation as long as we do not have a systemic approach to domination.
We cannot claim victory when a few slaughterhouses are shut down for non-compliance with regulations. Let’s get out of harmlessness and take concrete actions.
And I mean…Those in power are insatiable. They will do anything – lie, cheat, steal, kill – to increase their power.
The system rewards this accumulation of power. It requires it.
The system itself is insatiable. It requires growth. It requires the ever-increasing exploitation of resources, including human and animal resources.
We often ask ourselves why this system does not stop trading animals like goods, enslaving them, torturing them and finally murdering them brutally.
Not even then, when strong undercover Videos expose the criminals.
It will not stop because it is the strong thing to do, else it would never have survivated.
The system will not stop so long as there is anything left for it to exploit.
It cannot.
As Ward Churchill says: “Grotesquely exploitative behavior is not something to be figured out. It is something to be stopped. The question is: what are we going to do about it? After a lot of years in the animal rights movement we have learn a very important lesson: you cannot argue with abusers. You will always lose! In fact you’ve lost as soon as you begin (or more precisely as soon you respond to their provokations). Why? Because they cheat. They lie. They control the framing conditions for any “debate” and if you deviate from their script, they hurt you until you step back in line. Therefore: The only way out of this system of exploitation is to smash it. Not to engage resistance to opression, is to serve the interests of the opressor”.
Animals cannot do it.
What is the difference between human and animal slavery?
That one thing was abolished but not the other because we’ve always had it that way? and because the animals cannot do it themselves?
With 50-60% less slavery in the US, much would have been gained in 1850.
That’s why we can’t seriously say “I don’t ask for more” and pay tribute to the slave owners on the way.
Not to engage resistance to opression, is to serve the interests of the opressor.
WAV Comment – we communicate all the time with Erika, a founder of AAU. Hopefully, we think she knows we respect and admire all the work and rescues which are undertaken by the AAU crew.
So here are a few videos of some latest rescues, as well as one where you can join the street treatment team as they go about their fantastic work. Love and respect to all at AAU.
Regards Mark
Dear Mark,
Earlier this month India celebrated Rakhi, honoring the bond between brothers and sisters, whether blood family, or chosen family.
Nanhi, featured in the little videohere,has a “chosen family” too. Her neighbor feeds her, loves her, and makes sure if she is ill, she will get the help she needs. Because Nanhi gets plenty of petting, she was relaxed during the treatments she needed in Animal Aid after a painful ear wound. When animals are calm and secure, they also heal much faster.
For all for loving care you have made possible to those far from you in Animal Aid, thank you.
At first, Micky was afraid to be touched. Then everything changed!
Little Micky’s wound on his backside was large and extremely painful. Still energetic and optimistic, this precious boy seemed to have no idea that he was in grave danger and would have died without urgent rescue. His mother’s love would be a vital comfort to him, so of course we rescued them together, and his Mom’s face, within moments, seemed to express relief that they were now in safe, healing hands.
Watch now, as Micky’s fear turned into love.
Helping someone who is hurting feels so good. Please donate.
Join our Street Treatment team for the day!
Join us on the road as our Street Treatment medical team makes their daily rounds in the neighborhoods of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India!
You’ll see how much good medical care can be administered while sparing an animal the stress of entering the hospital, avoiding contact with infectious diseases and staying close to their friends and families. This video might also be especially interesting for those who don’t live in Udaipur to get a glimpse of the neighborhoods we work in.So hop on in and join us for a fascinating few minutes of loving care.
Sammy needed urgent help for his eye, and Animal Aid needed Sammy!
Few injuries are more horrible to imagine than a ruptured eye. The injury was likely caused by a passing vehicle hitting his head from behind. Exhausted from the pain, he put up no resistance to being rescued.
His eye could not be saved and needed to be surgically removed. Sammy woke from the procedure seeming to be immediately relieved, but only then did we realize, Sammy was blind in the other eye.
We’ve welcomed him to live for the rest of his life in the happy sanctuary of Animal Aid. What a snugglebug he has become, and we hope you’ll join us in falling in love with Sammy.
Legalized trophy hunting has corrupted Swedish hunting management to such an extent that the Swedish Environment Agency is actively undermining the purpose of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES)! It issues export permits for all trophies to attract foreign hobby hunters.
As of August 21, more than 500 brown bears are to be killed before their annual hibernation.
The European Commission and the international animal welfare community must address Sweden’s repeated violations of the Habitats Directive and ban the unethical trophy hunting of large predators, which is escalating in Sweden.
Trophy hunting is increasing worldwide, including Sweden.
Hunting seriously jeopardizes the survival of large predators.
Even so, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) increases the quota for legal trophy hunting every year. Almost 7,000 bears, lynxes, wolves and wolverines have been legally killed since 2000.
In the first half of 2021 alone, permits for the killing of more than 720 predators were already issued in Sweden.
The cruel and unethical trophy hunting with which the Swedish Federal Environment Agency wants to regulate the populations, however, violates the aim and purpose of the EU species and habitat directive (92/43 / EEC).
Sweden blatantly abuses these stringent protection laws by adjusting its own national loopholes and unrestrainedly interpreting the limited hunting exemptions in order to sustain the trophy hunting industry.
The Swedish bear population is currently less than 2,900 wild animals
This month, more than 500 bears will be targeted for trophy hunting in seven Swedish counties, although 107 bears, including females and young, have been killed in helicopter hunts this spring.
Bears that wake up from hibernation and get too close to reindeer are condemned in advance by the reindeer owners.
Even so, the reindeer industry receives significant government subsidies to accept the predators.
Martial and usually illegal methods such as snowmobile chasing, 24-hour hunting and being shot down from helicopters are approved by the district administration.
It is even possible to track females with young animals in their burrows.
These brutal practices against predators are increasing every year in northern Sweden.
A region where illegal hunting is widespread, sometimes with extremely sadistic methods, as the hunting scandal in Norrbotten in 2017 showed:
Torturing lynx in traps, strangling lynx and bears on metal wires in trees, provoking dogs on trapped and injured animals.
This proves that legalized trophy hunting neither creates respect for wildlife nor reduces conflict.
Killing Geronimo is a PR disaster for Defra and makes a mockery of the UK’s priorities
Geronimo’s sorry tale goes deeper than the killing of just one animal. It both goes to the heart of Defra’s policy on TB control, casting doubt over its cattle-testing regime
When we look back on the history of the countryside, we will remember how for a while in 2021, Geronimo was the UK’s – and possibly the world’s – most famous animal.
The black alpaca, blissfully ignorant that his life was hanging in the balance while grazing in his Gloucestershire field, captured the hearts of a nation. To animal lovers around the globe, his killing seemed senseless, as they got behind the campaign to prove he did not have tuberculosis. After all, creatures infected with the disease surely do not live for four years without showing symptoms.
What were Defra chiefs thinking? Some might say that coming so soon after the government relented to allow Nowzad to airlift its 68 staff and 178 animals from Afghanistan, ministers did not want to be seen too much to be “giving in” to public opinion (although what do we elect them for if not to democratically carry out our wishes?).
But no – it’s clear that Geronimo’s death was planned from the moment the judge handed down her verdict refusing owner Helen Macdonald’s final legal battle. From that moment, all testimony that the TB tests used on the animal were flawed fell on stony deaf ears.
Geronimo was twice in quick succession “primed” – or micro-vaccinated – before his tests, which, according to campaigners, caused the false positive results. And the strength of his reaction diminished between the first and second tests. Even the test manufacturer told the court Geronimo’s result could not be trusted. Ms Macdonald said he had never had a positive reaction to a valid test.
Above – Pathetic – George Eustace MP (Defra Minister)
Given, then, that a host of evidence cast doubt over the test results, Defra would have been far wiser to have had an open mind and at least agreed to a third test – a perfectly reasonable request. But in refusing, the department has set itself up for a predictable – and predicted – public relations disaster. It will face an almighty backlash if post-mortem results show the alpaca did not have TB – that is, if and when the results see the light of day.
I asked Defra why it refused Ms Macdonald’s other simple request – a meeting with environment secretary George Eustice. It stuck to its line that “The secretary of state has looked at this case several times over the last three years and has considered all of the evidence with the chief vet and APHA expert vets and scientists. Geronimo has tested positive twice and we must follow the evidence.”
But Geronimo’s sorry tale goes deeper than the killing of just one animal where much of the evidence points to its innocence. It both goes to the heart of Defra’s policy on TB control, casting doubt over its cattle-testing regime in pursuit of eradicating TB, and it also raises questions over the stubbornness of some in government.
Both David Cameron and Boris Johnson have been mocked for performing U-turns, but in the end don’t we all have more respect for a leader who is prepared to admit they got it wrong and to change course when presented with new evidence, rather than desperately clinging to a position, possibly to save face?
After Nowzad’s escape from Afghanistan – funded privately and organised in addition to the official Ministry of Defence airlifts – there were a lot of sanctimonious and misleading comments about “putting people before pets”, conveniently ignoring that the operation was not carried out at public expense, nor did putting rescue animals in an aircraft hold take up one iota of space that could have been occupied by people.
Similarly, some have claimed, driven not by ignorance but by swallowing government spin, that Geronimo was “TB-riddled” when there is no reliable evidence of his having been infected.
Geronimo Is Hauled Away for Destruction Under a Government Policy.
OPINION – by Mark; Co Founder WAV.
Before we start – A new petition has been established, calling for the resignation of George Eustace MP; Defra Minster. This follows on from the murder of Geronimo on 31/8.
You will receive a response and need to click to verify your e mail; otherwise your sig. will not count.
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I live in the South East of England. But today, 31/8/21 has been a bit of a turning point in the British animal rights movement. Today, being the day that ‘Geronimo’ the Alpaca was murdered by the British government as they considered that he was infected with bovine TB. (bTB).
His solitary death, which did not take place where he was kept, and after a lot of ‘rough man handling’ by well disguised, face mask wearing (obviously avoiding identification), protective coverall wearing Defra officials; is yet one more pointless death in the name of Bovine Tuberculosis. Did we see all the campaigners out to fight the destruction of Geronimo wearing protective clothing and hidden behind face masks ? – no; there is no need now; Defra are in effect just attempting to hide their faces, with the support of police protection, from identification by the animal welfare supporters of Geronimo who have battled in his defence..
There is talk today, 1/9, that Geronimo was taken away in a horsebox, so that he could be destroyed, and then immediately taken away for cremation. This flies in opposition to the autopsy which is supposed to be being undertaken, but without any outside observers – see further on for more.
For years now we in the (animal welfare) movement have had to sit and watch as tens of thousands of badgers have, just like Geronimo the Alpaca toady, been slaughtered by a fanatical; one faced government that basically ignores all evidence and statistics. The mass murder of a ‘protected species’ named the ‘badger’; is an issue which is very hard to swallow for the tens of thousands who spoke and campaigned in Geronimo’s defence, as well as those who still speak in defence of badgers.
For the record to put some figures on the table; unconfirmed reports, but those obtained by the ‘League Against Cruel Sports – LACS’; suggest that in the 2018 autumn alone, 32,000 ‘protected’ badgers were slaughtered by the government, operating under the command of Defra; Minister George Eustace MP.
Miss Macdonald, Geronimo’s dedicated owner, had received support from around the world, with more than 140,000 people signing a petition calling against Geronimo’s destruction. In the UK, any petition, regardless of the subject, containing more than 100,000 signatures should be debated in the House of Commons; where MP’s take residence.
Miss Macdonald insisted the Enferplex test; allegedly showing Geronimo did have bTB, was flawed and that Geronimo twice tested positive because he had repeatedly been primed, yes primed, with tuberculin – a sterile liquid containing the growth products of or specific substances extracted from the tubercle bacillus and used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in bovine TB.
Hundreds of green stickerswith this slogan have been sticking for days in a medium-sized town of Neukirchen-Vluyn in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Even election posters did not spare the unknown perpetrators. Corona is a reason for the city.
“In the course of the pandemic, the number of cases of property damage and vandalism has increased overall,” said MayorRalf Köpke.
The local hunters have also been struggling with vandalism for months, a hunter says “We have even found stickers like this on high seats,” says the press spokesman for the Wesel District Hunters’ Association, he assumes that there are juvenile perpetrators.
“The stickers are piling up in front of schools in particular.”
Both the city and the affected hunters have now filed charges against unknown persons.
And I mean…We thank the activists very much.
We would also like to thank the Wesel District Hunters’ Association for the nice photo with the sticker.
Truth is hard to bear, but baptizing it as vandalism is sacrilege
‘All the time they were simply planning to murder him’: Geronimo’s devastated owner blasts DEFRA and demands a witness at alpaca’s post-mortem after he was dragged away from her farm under police escort and executed
Geronimo the alpaca has been executed after Defra officials today seized the animal and drove him away
Police clashed with animal rights protesters defending the alpaca at the farm in Wickwar this morning
The High Court ruled Geronimo must be destroyed for testing positive for bovine tuberculosis twice
But its owner Helen Macdonald has long insisted that the Enferplex test used on the alpaca is flawed
Geronimo the alpaca’s devastated owner has slammed Defra’s ‘bad faith and duplicity’ and demanded an independent witness be present at his post-mortem after he was today seized from his Gloucestershire farm by a Government team in boiler suits and masks and executed.
Helen Macdonald, a veterinary nurse who brought Geronimo to England from New Zealand in 2017, accused Environment Secretary George Eustice and other senior Defra officials of ignoring her pleas for ‘constructive dialogue’ for two weeks.
The four-year battle to save Geronimo after he twice tested positive for bovine tuberculosis ended this morning and the sad moment he was tied up and carted away was captured by the live webcam set up to watch the South American mammal a month ago.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed around an hour later they had put the animal down, just days before the destruction warrant it won at the High Court expired.
A post-mortem will be undertaken by veterinary pathologists from the from the premises and euthanised by staff from the Animal. Defra said this will be followed by a bacteriological culture of selected tissue samples, which can take up to three months.
Speaking at her farm in Wickwar, Miss Macdonald said: ‘All the time they were simply planning to murder Geronimo. This is yet another appalling demonstration of bad faith and duplicity by the Secretary of State and everyone at Defra.’
She added that she is ‘absolutely disgusted’ with the Government, which she said had used a ‘falsified test that has no validity’ on the alpaca.
Police clashed with protesters defending the alpaca at the farm this morning as more than 30 uniformed officers and Defra officials tied a rope around Geronimo before dragging him to a trailer and driving him away for destruction.
‘This morning, Geronimo has been manhandled out of my farm,’ Miss Macdonald said. Asked how force was used, she replied: ‘You’ll have to ask the poor witnesses that witnessed him being rounded up and dragged into a horsebox. These are barbaric actions of unscientific, abusive people in Government.’
She called for Mr Eustace and Lord Benyon, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defra, to go to the farm to speak to her, as well as an independent witness to be present when a post-mortem examination is carried out on the alpaca.
Uniformed officers wearing facemasks could be seen speaking to three people dressed in blue overalls and goggles outside the farm in Wickwar at 10.45am and tying a rope around Geronimo
‘Over the last two weeks we have tried to engage constructively and persistently with George Eustice, Lord Benyon, George Eustice’s special advisors, senior Defra civil servants and multiple MPs and government scientists,’ she said. ‘Now we know they were not only ignoring our persistent pleas for constructive dialogue, but had no intention of engaging with us.’
Defra said the alpaca was euthanised by staff from the Animal and Plant Health Agency in order to control the spread of TB. Miss Macdonald insists his positive tests were false. A Defra spokesman confirmed that Geronimo has never tested negative for bovine TB, and that another test for the disease will be conducted during the post-mortem.
Webcam footage showed Geronimo make a break for freedom from his ‘captors’ and run into a field with other alpacas. Its supporters – the ‘Alpaca Angels’, who have kept watch over the stud – previously vowed to thwart the executioners by using deploy (think that should be ‘decoy’ – WAV) alpacas.
Geronimo has been in isolation, but four similar-looking alpacas are in an adjacent field with an open gate in between. Today, several officials followed the alpaca carrying rope and chased the pack around the meadow. Geronimo was then lead back into his barn before he was taken into a horsebox and driven away under police escort.
Supporters had been camping out at the farm to try to prevent officials arriving to destroy Geronimo and some were seen talking to police as the animal was removed. One woman was arrested after spraying officers with a water pistol, but was quickly de-arrested. Others sobbed after Geronimo was rounded up and driven away, and accused Defra of breaking the law.
Miss Macdonald, who previously vowed to stand in front of a marksman to protect him, was nowhere to be seen as the alpaca was taken away.
She claimed she had been ‘duped’ by the Government and had expected Defra vets to give Geronimo a stay of execution. But when police arrived, Miss Macdonald said she had no choice but to leave as she ‘would have been arrested for obstruction’. She also claimed that Defra ‘will try and fudge the post-mortem’, calling it a ‘complete set-up’.
Miss Macdonald insists the Enferplex test is flawed and says Geronimo twice tested positive because he had repeatedly been primed with tuberculin – a purified protein derivative of bovine TB bacteria. She has received support from around the world, with more than 140,000 people signing a petition against Geronimo’s destruction.
Earlier this month, a High Court judge refused her lawyer’s application for a temporary injunction to stop the destruction order and reopen the case.
As well as alpacas, badgers have been a victim of the fight against bovine TB, with mass culling employed to stop the spread since 2013, sparking a huge public backlash. The Government said 27,000 cattle were slaughtered in 2020 to curb the spread of the disease.
Pen Farthing’s friend Dominic Dyer, an animal rights campaigner, tweeted: ‘My thoughts are with Helen Macdonald one of the most bravest & courageous people I know that fought a David & Goliath battle with Defra to save the life of her precious Geronimo’.
Downing Street has expressed sympathy for Miss Macdonald, with the Prime Minister’s official spokesman saying: ‘It’s obviously highly distressing for someone to lose animals to TB and that’s a situation that farmers sadly have to face.
‘Our sympathies are with Ms Macdonald and any others that are affected by this terrible disease.’
In a statement, Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said: ‘This is a terribly sad situation and our sympathies remain with all those affected by this devastating disease. No one wants to have to cull infected animals if it can be avoided, but we need to follow the scientific evidence and cull animals that have tested positive for bTB to minimise spread of this insidious disease and ultimately eradicate the biggest threat to animal health in this country.
‘Not only is this essential to protect the livelihoods of our farming industry and rural communities, but it is also necessary to avoid more TB cases in humans.’
The destruction warrant was valid until Saturday, September 4 and Miss Macdonald had previously called on Environment Secretary George Eustice to allow Geronimo to be tested for a third time or let him live to aid research into the disease.
One supporter named Ray Puttock said despite the tragic news, the Geronimo saga has brought many supporters together. He said: ‘We’ve all become very good friends here. People here weren’t my friends when they turned up, now they’ll always be my friends.’
On the heavy police presence, he said: ”I tried coming in two different ways and got stopped at both. I saw five cars and three police motorbikes. That’s without the vehicles that were here.
‘It would be very interesting to ask the Avon and Somerset control room today ‘how grade one many grade one blue shouts were you unable to attend because of all the officers that were at the alpacas?’
‘They are assisting the state, they are not assisting the people, the community they’re supposed to serve. Just disgraceful.’
An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: ‘We can confirm officers are in attendance at a farm in the Wickwar area of South Gloucestershire this morning to support the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), who are executing a court warrant.
‘We’ll always support our partner agencies to carry out their lawful duties and our role is to prevent a breach of the peace and to ensure public safety is protected.’
A Defra spokesman refused to comment on ‘operational matters’ when approached by MailOnline, but said in a statement: ‘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 £100million every year.
‘Therefore, while nobody wants to cull animals, we need to do everything we can to tackle this disease, stop it spreading and to protect the livelihoods of those affected.’
Miss Macdonald said: ‘I fled, if I had stayed there they would have arrested me for obstruction. That would have played into their hands because I wouldn’t have been able to keep fighting for him. They took him alive – we’ve been totally duped. It’s an outrage.’
‘We don’t know where they’ve taken him but there are still a few hours to try to save his life. We have got to get this stopped.’
She sent a text message to reporters at the farm which said: ‘They took him alive, get after Defra’. Her Twitter account @alpacapower posted: ‘DEFRA have arrived! We are asking once again for an urgent meeting with George Eustice. Please don’t execute Geronimo.’
Campaigner Graham Edwards, 54, said: ‘They have broken their own laws and protocols – if the animal has TB they are not allowed to move it. It should have been slaughtered here but they wouldn’t do it because there are cameras here to record everything that happened.’
Mr Edwards, from Reading, has spent two weeks camping at the farm, said: ‘They came mob-handed – there were more than 30 police here. They pushed through a fence, they came to do a job and there was no stopping them. I was told the vets were Spanish – not even English.
‘It was supposed to have been put down here, not taken away. We didn’t expect them to take it away. They are a bunch of hypocrites – I’m gutted, we all are.’
More than a dozen leading vets called on the Government to halt the culling of Geronimo after questioning his tuberculosis diagnosis, and instead urged the animal to be studied for science.
The 13 vets – who include a former senior official at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – said they had ‘grave reservations’ about the two positive tests the animal returned in 2017 and they ‘may well represent a false positive’.
Among the signatories to the letter are Professor Ranald Munroe, former head of pathology for Defra’s Veterinary Laboratories Agency and Dr Iain McGill, veterinary scientific adviser to Ms Macdonald.
In the letter, they write: ‘It is our professional opinion that the diagnosis in Geronimo’s case is unsafe, and may well represent a false positive, due to the fact that Geronimo had been repeatedly ‘antibody boosted’ or primed – five times in his lifetime with four injections of bovine tuberculin and one of avian tuberculin in the run up to the final Enferplex blood test which confirmed the ‘positive’ diagnosis of ‘suspicion of disease’.’
They said Mr Eustice had the power to overturn Geronimo’s destruction warrant and order he be observed for scientific research.
‘We could learn a great deal from Geronimo were he to be compassionately studied, but very little from his death,’ they said.
‘We believe Geronimo’s case shines a light on the shortcomings of the current bTB testing policy, and gives an opportunity for a comprehensive review of the bovine TB testing and control policy, based on science and for the health and wellbeing of farmers, cattle, alpacas, badgers, the environment and the public.
‘Given the mental anguish that Helen MacDonald has had to endure these past four years, and the publicity surrounding the case, we would urge Secretary of State for Defra, George Eustice and his team to discuss matters with us and Ms MacDonald to find a way out of this impasse.’
Miss Macdonald had called for an urgent meeting with the Government, pleading: ‘We are requesting an urgent meeting with Environment Secretary George Eustice, and really hope to hear back from Defra.
‘It is naturally a terribly traumatic time for Geronimo and myself, and everyone else who has been supporting us over the last few weeks. But we remain confident that there are ways forward to save Geronimo, and that Defra will find a way to do the right thing.’
Last week, more than a dozen vets said they have ‘grave reservations’ about the two positive tests the eight-year-old animal returned in 2017 and that they ‘may well represent a false positive’.
Earlier this month, a High Court judge refused her lawyer’s application for a temporary injunction to stop the destruction order and reopen the case.
Miss Macdonald said that when Defra officials do attend her farm to euthanise Geronimo, she would not break the law.
Supporters have also been camping out at her farm in case officials arrive to destroy him. They have been receiving regular deliveries of supplies from well-wishers, including tea bags, coffee, sugar, and vegan food.
As well as alpacas, badgers have been a victim of the fight against bovine TB, with mass culling employed to stop the spread since 2013, sparking a huge public backlash.
The Government insists that all the evidence on the animal’s condition has been ‘looked at very carefully’.
It is also forbidden to tie animals by their horns, nose rings or legs. As we can see from the photos, it becomes clear to everyone that these animals suffer from this illegal ring, both in herds and in competitions
World Animals Voice 