LONDON. “Save my Geronimo. Rather, kill me.” It is the cry of pain, on the columns of the Sun, by Helen Macdonald, the alpaca breeder whom the government and the courts have “sentenced to death” according to her. For days, Geronimo’s story has been appearing in English newspapers and on social networks, among outraged animal rights activists and children saddened by the fate that this soft and furry llama-like mammal should soon encounter.
Geronimo’s problem is that in the past he has been twice positive for bovine tuberculosis. Which is why, according to the British medical authorities, it must be killed as soon as possible to avoid contagion in other animals. “These tests were flawed,” insists Mrs. Macdonald, who has her farm in Wickwar, Gloucestershire, “they were conducted years ago and new blood tests have disproved them. If Geronimo had really had tuberculosis he would have died by now.” .
The polls are also with Mrs. Macdonald. According to one commissioned by Opinium, 42% of Brits think Geronimo deserves to live and only 16% agree with the killing. But the health authorities do not think so, the High Court that upheld the decision in court and the Minister of Agriculture himself, George Eustice, sided with the executioner: “My family and I also had farms and cases like that. Unfortunately they are very sad events and we have no other choice, “he said.
But Helen doesn’t fit. For over three years now he has been fighting this battle to save his alpaca Geronimo and has spent, for now in vain, about 60 thousand euros in legal fees. The defeats, however, did not discourage her. Now, according to the regulations, she or a vet are required to kill Geronimo as soon as possible. But Mrs. Macdonald doesn’t really think about it: “I certainly won’t do it and I won’t ask anyone else to do it.” At that point, however, the health authorities or emissaries of the Ministry of Agriculture will have to kill the alpaca. “They’ll find me on their way,” Macdonald swears Sun, “they’d rather kill me instead of Geronimo. They don’t know who they’re dealing with.”
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