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Geronimo's owner makes final attempt to save alpaca

Helen Macdonald Geronimo the alpacaHelen Macdonald
Geronimo has been kept in quarantine since arriving in the UK in August 2017

A farmer from Gloucestershire is due to make a final attempt in the High Court to save her alpaca from slaughter.

Helen Macdonald's stud, Geronimo, twice tested positive for bovine TB but she disputes the results.

She took out an emergency injunction to delay a warrant to cull the animal before an appeal hearing on 29 July.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is set to kill Geronimo and said it was "inappropriate to comment" given legal proceedings.

Ms Macdonald said: "If I lose the appeal then Geronimo will be shot. It's certainly looking that way at the moment.

"I know we have to eradicate TB but we don't have to kill a healthy animal."

She previously lost a High Court appeal to challenge the environment secretary's refusal to allow Geronimo to be re-tested in 2019.

It is illegal to test an animal without permission.

Helen Macdonald Geronimo, the alpacaHelen Macdonald
Helen Macdonald estimates she has forfeited hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost income and the legal battle to save Geronimo

Geronimo has been in quarantine with five other alpacas on her farm in Wickwar, near Bristol since arriving in the UK in August 2017.

The stud had tested negative for bovine TB in New Zealand but when Ms Macdonald agreed to a voluntary test as part of national surveillance of the disease the result came back positive.

Defra decided to conduct a second test in November 2017, which also came back positive, and Geronimo was earmarked for slaughter.

'False positives'

In the past four years the restrictions enforced on her alpaca farm mean she has been unable to trade livestock or receive any income from it.

There is a legal requirement to report the disease if present or suspected in a herd, but there is no requirement for alpacas to be regularly tested.

Under The Animal Health Act 1981 Defra's secretary of state only needs to suspect the disease is present to order the slaughter of animals and limit its spread.

The British Alpaca Society is calling for more research into the testing.

The society's CEO, Duncan Pullar, said: "The system was put in place to test TB in cattle. There will be some false positives and some false negatives.

"It's frustrating that there are no learning opportunities as to why he is fit and healthy but has a failed test against his name."