Defra officials lead Geronimo away from farm

GERONIMO, the beloved alpaca at the centre of a legal battle, has been led away by Defra officials today, August 31.

Geronimo, the beloved alpaca at the centre of a legal battle after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis twice, has been led away by Defra officials today, August 31.

Defra staff were accompanied by police officers this morning when they arrived at Helen Macdonald’s farm in Wickwar, near Gloucestershire.

Defra sentenced Geronimo to his fate after two positive bovine tuberculosis tests. His owner, Helen Macdonald disputed the results and challenged the courts ahead of his euthanisation date of September 4.

She also appeared on popular TV programmes such as This Morning to spread the story of Geronimo, leading to mixed opinions. She did, however, have the support of celebrities such as Chris Packham and Joanna Lumley.

Animal rights activists have been camping out at the farm ahead of the execution date and today clashed with Defra and police.

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.”

Graham has spent two weeks camping at the farm and 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.”

DEFRA have arrived! We are asking once again for an urgent meeting with George Eustice. Please don’t execute Geronimo.

— Helen Macdonald 🇺🇦🖤💜🖤 (@alpacapower) August 31, 2021

A police spokesman confirmed that officers were at the farm to support Defra officials.

“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,” they added.

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