London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Geronimo the alpaca did NOT have bovine TB, owner claims, as initial post-mortem result proves inconclusive

Geronimo the alpaca did NOT have bovine TB, owner claims, as initial post-mortem result proves inconclusive

An alpaca euthanised because it was said to have bovine tuberculosis did not have the disease, its owner claims, citing an autopsy. That conclusion is disputed by officials, who say the post-mortem offers evidence of the disease.

The scandal provoked by the death of the alpaca, named Geronimo, was given a new twist on Wednesday, when the legal team supporting its owner, Helen Macdonald, an alpaca breeder, revealed the preliminary findings of a post-mortem examination.

Geronimo did not have bovine tuberculosis, the lawyers claimed, “the preliminary gross post-mortem findings [being] negative for visible lesions” – a typical marker for the fatal disease, which results in the slaughter of thousands of cattle in the UK every year to prevent its spread.

“For clarity, there are no white or cream caseous, enlarged abscesses typical for bTB in alpacas, whether in the lungs, bronchial, mediastinal or retropharyngeal lymph nodes,” the autopsy report stated. In Macdonald’s view, these findings undermine the conclusions of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and she has called for the immediate resignation of its head, Secretary of State George Eustice. Last month, she staged a protest outside DEFRA’s HQ. She and her fellow demonstrators then marched to 10 Downing Street, demanding accountability from the government.

“There is a long list of people who contributed to the barbaric treatment of Geronimo,” Macdonald told the protesters, adding that she had been punished by officials for daring to “stand up to their dogma”.

"Geronimo was the innocent victim of arrogance, ignorance and greed."


Those same officials are arguing that the post-mortem results were inconclusive, however, and still suggest the animal might have had the disease. The samples collected will undergo further testing, with the results expected to be available before Christmas.

“We have completed the initial post-mortem examination of Geronimo. A number of TB-like lesions were found and, in line with standard practice, these are now undergoing further investigation,” Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Christine Middlemiss said in a statement.

"These tests include the developing of bacteriological cultures from tissue samples, which usually takes several months. We would expect to complete the full post-mortem and culture process by the end of the year."


The Geronimo saga began back in 2017, when Macdonald imported the animal from New Zealand. Down under, the animal had tested negative for bovine TB in multiple skin tests. In the UK, however, its blood tests returned positive results twice, despite it never having shown any visible symptoms of the disease.

Pro-Geronimo experts are of the view that the latter were false positives, as the animal had been ‘primed’ – effectively, micro-vaccinated – against TB, but DEFRA officials maintain the tests provided enough evidence to permit the animal to be put down. Geronimo was ultimately forcibly removed from Macdonald’s farm by DEFRA agents supported by police officers on August 31.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×