Tragic alpaca Geronimo’s owner last night slammed a post-mortem which said he may have had bovine tuberculosis as a “blatant cover-up”.
Geronimo’s owner, Helen Macdonald, requested a copy of the post-mortem examination after Geronimo was removed from her farm in South Gloucestershire and culled by Government officials.
Geronimo twice tested positive for bovine tuberculosis, and the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) ordered him to be euthanised to stop the spread of the disease.
Yesterday, Defra officials confirmed that early results show the animal did have signs of TB.
Owner Helen Macdonald immediately disputed the results as she continued to protest against the handling of the extermination.
Furious Helen said: “What on earth does ‘TB like’ mean?
“Either he had TB or he didn’t and we strongly believe he didn’t. For the chief vet to come out with a report like this is ludicrous.
“Dr Middlemiss should seriously consider her position. We have asked for them to be open and transparent and they haven’t been, they are just desperate to justify his killing.”
Lawyers acting for Ms Macdonald said she had received a letter from the Government’s legal department containing the preliminary findings of the post-mortem examination.
These findings were then reviewed by veterinary surgeons supporting Ms Macdonald, according to a report in Bristol Post.
In a statement, the lawyers said: “As reviewed by Dr Iain McGill and Dr Bob Broadbent, the preliminary gross post-mortem findings are negative for visible lesions typical of Bovine Tuberculosis.
“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.
“Ms Macdonald has formally requested the full findings of the post-mortem report ‘Form TB50’, together with all relevant documents and the results of further tests on tissue samples, blood, serum or plasma taken or obtained from Geronimo, along with any further test results including Enferplex, Idexx, Actiphage and any other PCR or interferon gamma tests performed by Defra, along with the results of histopathogical examination.
“She has further requested that both fresh, frozen and formalin fixed tissue and fluid samples be preserved and provided to an independent expert to carry out further tests.”
However, Defra has rejected this assertion and stated that experienced veterinary pathologists completed the initial postmortem examination and found a number of “TB-like lesions”.
A lesion is an area of tissue that has been damaged through disease. In some cases, the microscopic lesions of TB in the affected organs can take a very long time to progress to larger, visible lesions, if at all. It is therefore significant to find these signs.
Chief veterinary officer Dr Christine Middlemiss completed the initial post-mortem examination of Geronimo.
She said: “A number of TB-like lesions were found and in line with standard practice these are now undergoing further investigation.
“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.”
