Protesters are headed to Downing Street in a bid to save Geronimo the alpaca from death row.
Hundreds of protesters will head to No10 tomorrow demanding a reprieve for the pet which is said to have bovine TB, some even bringing their own animals.
The animal, owned by Helen Macdonald in Wickwar, Glos, has been ordered for destruction after twice testing positive for the disease, she has repeatedly questioned the tests used to condemn him and vows to do everything she can to stop his death.
Organiser Dominic Dyer, of the Born Tree Foundation, added: “We’ll be calling on government to use new TB tests on Geronimo. They’ll show he doesn’t have TB.”
It comes as Geronimo’s vet condemned the Government and claims they have misunderstood the science.
Dr Ian McGill, said: “When Geronimo arrived at Helen’s farm he underwent a skin test which indicated he was clear of bovine tuberculosis.
"They are using an anti-body test but before that they are giving him an injection which would raise the antibodies.”
He added that the test that was used to show a positive TB result on Geronimo “isn’t validated in alpacas, according to the manufacturers.”
Defending the decision to put down Geronimo, Environment Secretary George Eustice said his own farming family had suffered the “soul destroying” slaughter of a cherished cow, Rose, due to bTB but he underlined the need to prevent the spread.
He said: “There has been a great deal of focus on the case of Geronimo the alpaca this week. However, each week on average, we remove more than 500 cattle from herds due to infection in England alone.
“Behind every one of those cases is a farmer who has suffered loss and tragedy.
“Farmers understand that infected animals are a risk to the remainder of their herd, so while the loss of individual animals is always a tragedy, the farming communities have worked with Government vets in this arduous but necessary endeavour.”
