Geronimo the alpaca will die, the High Court confirmed on Wednesday, as its owner lost a final legal bid to stave off the executioners.
The animal has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and is due to be slaughtered on the orders of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Helen Macdonald, Geronimo’s owner, lodged a last-ditch legal challenge to save the alpaca at the High Court after the last of several recent appeals was rejected in July.
She has insisted Geronimo is a healthy alpaca and had only produced two false positive results because it was double primed with tuberculin beforehand.
Her latest legal case centred on press coverage of nine other alpacas and llamas that were culled after testing positive for bTB, but showed no trace of the disease during post-mortem examinations.
Interim injunction denied
Cathryn McGahey QC, for Ms Macdonald, asked the High Court for an interim injunction against the death warrant, saying the details of the other cases should have been disclosed by Defra during past hearings.
The latest proceedings, which also included an application for a judicial review, succeed in securing Geronimo several days’ reprieve after first being lodged on Friday.
However, on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Stacey rejected the application for an interim injunction, describing the call for further data to be disclosed as a “fishing expedition”.
It’s not over, vows owner
The ruling serves as a crushing blow to the hopes of Ms Macdonald for saving the animal, but on Wednesday night she vowed to continue the fight.
Speaking from her farm in Wickwar, near Bristol, Ms Macdonald vowed she would “fight on” and said she was now in a “stand-off situation”.
She added: “It’s not over. We’re back to where we were a week ago.”
A statement released by Olephant Solicitors, the legal firm representing Ms Macdonald, said: “We are deeply disappointed by the outcome of the hearing in the High Court … the claim for judicial review remains live and we are considering with our client all of her options.”
Ned Westaway, representing Defra, told the High Court hearing that Ms Macdonald “won’t be getting a knock on the door” at her farm in Gloucestershire for at least 24 hours.
It means Geronimo is safe until around 5pm on Thursday, and gives Ms Macdonald the opportunity to make her own arrangements for the alpaca’s death.
Ms McGahey had asked for Defra’s warrant to be suspended until all details about alpacas who tested positive for bTB after being double primed with tuberculin were disclosed ahead of a judicial review.
“We want to know what the true picture is,” she told the court at a hearing on Tuesday.
Source: Telegraph
