08/07/2021 19:15
Clarín.com
International
Updated 08/07/2021 19:15
Helen Macdonald
, a woman who owns a six-year-old alpaca named Gerónimo, condemned after having tested positive for
bovine tuberculosis
, received the support of thousands of English to oppose the slaughter of her animal, in an issue that today divides
UK
society
.
An online petition to
"Save Gerónimo"
, whose fate has made rivers of ink flow for several days, had collected more than
81,000 signatures
until yesterday
, added to thousands of others that, although they did not vote, support the idea that the animal stay alive.
Upon
being
brought in from its native New Zealand
four years ago, the camelid underwent four negative skin tests.
The alpaca Gerónimo tested positive for bovine tuberculosis and the British government does not want the disease to spread.
Photo: DPA
However, in the United Kingdom two blood tests and a skin test were carried out, all of them positive, which led the phytosanitary authorities to
order the slaughter of the animal
, which should take place in the first days of September.
"The alpaca Gerónimo must die"
Although the Environment Minister,
George Eustice
, highlighted on Thursday the high reliability of the tests carried out, he did not convince Macdonald, a
breeder in Gloucestershire,
south-west England, who accuses him of "lies" and of wanting to
"kill an animal healthy".
According to the woman, "since 2016 it has been known that these tests
produce false positives
if an alpaca is administered more than two tuberculin injections in 12 months".
Helen Macdonald and her alpaca Gerónimo, who will have to be euthanized in the first days of September.
The case grew so large that it reached
Downing Street
, the center of the British government, which
refused to grant Geronimo a postponement.
"I'm sorry, but Geronimo must die," Eustice told the Daily Mail.
"We know to what extent the loss of animals due to bovine tuberculosis is
disturbing for farmers,
" Prime Minister
Boris Johnson's
spokeswoman said on Friday
, but "the Environment Minister looked at this matter very carefully and confirmed all the elements. with veterinary experts, "he continued.
"Unfortunately, Gerónimo
has tested positive twice
using highly specific, reliable and validated tests," the spokesperson said.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, these tests have a
0.36% probability of producing a false positive
for bovine tuberculosis, the disease of which Gerónimo is "accused."
George Eustice, England's Minister of the Environment, was the one who announced that the animal will be euthanized.
Bovine tuberculosis is an insidious disease.
It is difficult to detect
because it develops slowly and there are often no obvious symptoms.
It can lurk in the environment for several months and can become embedded in the badger population.
One of the lessons of the postwar years is that testing and removing infected cattle from herds is critical to the ultimate success of widespread cures.
But its owner does not give up, and has already announced that she will try to prevent them from taking her from her farm: "She does not have it (bovine tuberculosis), and the sad thing is that
they will not realize it until she is dead."