Post-Mortem report confirms Geronimo did NOT have TB

TB is still a global pandemic, one person dies from it every 22 seconds. The measures taken in the UK means we are close to eradicating it, and I don’t want that jeopardised by an imported alpaca. I for one don’t want the return of this horrible disease that killed one of my family.

Frizzywizzy

Trisher
The statement by Dr Christine Middlemiss is old news. Did you read what Dr. Bob Broadbent wrote? Have you read the full post-mortem report?
As Dr. Iain McGill said: 'Put another way, if Geronimo had died naturally, and this post-mortem had been carried out and yielded these same results, ANY Veterinary Surgeon or pathologist would state that there is no evidence of bTB at all.'

From TB Mythbuster
Failure to detect lesions of tuberculosis by post-mortem examination at the slaughterhouse, or to culture M.bovis in the laboratory, does not imply that a test reactor was not infected with bovine TB. Indeed, in the early stages of this disease it is not always possible to observe lesions during abattoir post mortem examination, and, due to the fastidious nature of this organism, it is very difficult to isolate it from tissue samples without visible lesions
In other words lack of evidence does not indicate the disease was never present. This is a complicated and difficult bacterium to identify and the best policy is always to proceed with the utmost caution.

I would just like to thank anyone who has written a kind post about this situation.

I am shocked and saddened by some of the cruel comments.

Helen Mcdonald is just another human being who has suffered greatly and continues to grieve for the loss of her alpaca. She did what she thought was best for him, given a very traumatic situation.

She now continues to raise awareness around the disease, with the hope of improving the current bTB eradication policy.

Lets hope that when you are in a situation of loss and grief, people around you are kinder and more tolerant.

Helen Mcdonald never wanted to be in the glare of publicity; she was simply fighting for her animal's life. I hope I have someone like her supporting me, fighting my corner, if ever the time comes that I am thrust into a similar devastating situation.

Blossoming
No, actually.

Deedaa
Thank you for your comments.
Yes, of course, you are right but Helen loved Geronimo just as we would love a cat or a dog.
She was fighting to the end for his LIFE and refused to assist in his slaughter. Also, she could never have foreseen that he would have been seized in the traumatic way he was.
Thank you, yes, we do need a better way of dealing with bTB and this is now Helen's concern for the future.

Midgey,
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, far too many farmers have been deeply upset and traumatized by the loss of their animals. This is exactly why Helen Mcdonald is persevering with her case, to try and stand up for all those who may be affected in the future by a flawed bTB testing system.
She does not want other people and animals to suffer as she and Geronimo have.
She loved Geronimo very much and is devastated by his loss.

Trisher
The statement by Dr Christine Middlemiss is old news. Did you read what Dr. Bob Broadbent wrote? Have you read the full post-mortem report?
As Dr. Iain McGill said: 'Put another way, if Geronimo had died naturally, and this post-mortem had been carried out and yielded these same results, ANY Veterinary Surgeon or pathologist would state that there is no evidence of bTB at all.'

Wow what a lot of condemnation for this woman. I have no idea whether she cared for Geronimo or what the scientific basis is for the tests he was given, but I do know the whole TB strategy is flawed and there is disgraceful cruelty involved in culling badgers, cattle and other animals with no scientific evidence that it works. As for shipping him across the world, this happens all the time to animals destined for slaughter, as well as to the highest value animals in the world, all in the name of money. I don’t think we can assume that Olympic horsemen and women don’t care about their animals just because they allow them to be transported across the globe.

The more fuss the more donations she gets.

Nobody who cares tuppence for an animal would have it shipped 12,000 miles just to make money.

He was terrified getting into the truck? Think of the days of terror being loaded into a truck on the New Zealand farm, into the hold of a ship or plane, confined in a cage, unloaded and loaded again. And then isolated from the herd for years.

She wasn’t so concerned about his distress then. What a hypocrite.

Follow the money?

I agree with Gwyneth. There didn’t need to have been such a pantomime when he was taken away to be euthanised. It was the owner’s fault.

Once the decision to euthanise the animal (rightly or wrongly) was made the owner could have ensured Geronimo was euthanised in its own surroundings and so avoided trauma for the animal. The owner in my view is definitely to blame in this instance and caused the animal suffering. I am an animal lover and would not have put an animal of mine through this awful experience just to gain publicity.

It's absolutely obvious why they don't allow independent tests because stupid results will be drawn from them like this thread.

Don’t blame the owner. Blame the intransigence of DEFRA and their one size fits all policy. They aren’t interested in animal welfare remotely. They are interested in protecting the income of industrialised meat production. Squash as many animals in together as possible as they are literally cash cows. This animal wasn’t going to be eaten or mix with other farm animals. The owner was trying to protect it and prove beyond reasonable doubt that it had this preventable illness. But computer said no and wouldn’t allow independent tests. Disgusting

The reason why the poor animal had a ‘brutal death’ was as a result of the owners actions.

midgey

I wonder why there is so much fuss over one animal when farmers have been losing cattle for years, and yes they do care just as much as this owner did.

Exactly.
And now crowd funding!
As trisher says it’s not over yet and the animal may well have had TB.

Zoejory

*The fact is that the animal may have had TB. Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Christine Middlemiss said that the initial post-mortem examination of Geronimo found a 'number of TB-like lesions'.^*

That was a while back, Trisher. If you read the OP it says the lesions have been tested and no TB to be found.

If you read the piece that isn't possible until the cultures have been grown and that could take until the end of the year. You might not find TB active in the lesions that doesn't mean the bacterium isn't present and active TB could result.

How sad and dreadful.

To put this in perspective, 10s of 1000s of badgers are being killed currently that do NOT have TB. And it seems much more likely that badgers get TB from cattle, not the other way round.

As well as being shipped nearly 12,000 miles so Helen McDonald could make money from breeding him.

She wasn’t so concerned about his distress then. Nobody can convince me she ever cared anything about him except as a money making project.

And she’s succeeding ?

Totally agree Deedaa The owner had a lot to answer for the animal had already spent four years in solitary ‘confinement’ in case poor thing

Geronimo's death would have been less traumatic if the owner had bowed to the inevitable and let him be quietly put down at home.

Certainly far more work needs to be done on Bovine TB. Farms and zoos lose valuable animals, not to mention the badger culls. We need a better way of dealing with it.

It appears to be from the ‘Geronimo’ Facebook page. So totally legit then.

But the OP is just referring to an article in the Daily Mail where the owner restates her opinion that the animal didn’t have BTB.

There’s no new definitive evidence for or against and won’t be till the samples have been cultured.

Fake news and a misleading head line in fact. Whether on purpose or just carried along by the Daily Mail I don’t know.

Where did you get your information OP?

The fact is that the animal may have had TB. Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Christine Middlemiss said that the initial post-mortem examination of Geronimo found a 'number of TB-like lesions'.^

That was a while back, Trisher. If you read the OP it says the lesions have been tested and no TB to be found.

execution warrant ?

This poor creature was a 'cash cow' making money for its owner. I'm sorry if it was put down unnecessarily but it was not executed.

It's time an alternative - like a vaccine that isn't unsafe if humans eat the meat - was found instead of culling.