Stanley Johnson backs saving death-row alpaca Geronimo
- Published
The prime minister's father has said an alpaca that is due to be put down should be given "a stay of execution".
Stanley Johnson has joined a campaign to save Geronimo the alpaca.
A legal judgement last week ruled Geronimo must be put down to protect cattle after he twice tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB).
His owner disputes the results and Mr Johnson senior said Geronimo should be tested again and that "good sense" should prevail.
More than 90,000 people have signed a petition to save Geronimo and a protest march to Downing Street is planned.
Geronimo's owner, veterinary nurse Helen Macdonald who breeds alpacas at her farm in Wickwar, near Bristol, claimed the tests used were inaccurate. She pointed out that Geronimo had tested negative on four occasions in New Zealand.
But Environment Secretary George Eustice said the tests used were more than 99% accurate when detecting positive tests - and that the tests in New Zealand were "far less reliable".
Mr Johnson, a former Tory MEP and who writes about wildlife for The Sun newspaper, said he had spoken to Ms Macdonald over the weekend.
"As far as I'm concerned it is absolutely possible and necessary for the secretary of state George Eustice to have a stay of execution," he said.
"Why? Because when this animal was tested when he came to England, yes there might have been a positive result, and the owner thinks it was a false positive, but that is several years ago.
"An animal that is diseased would not have survived five years, that is for sure.
"There is a case, surely, to let this lady have one test now, she says there is a new test now, surely that is the right thing to do - not just to say 'the law must take its course'.
"It's really quite a simple thing to say. This animal should be tested.
"Good sense should prevail, and George Eustice is a man of impeccable good sense."
How has Geronimo been tested so far?
- Geronimo the alpaca has been tested twice with the Enferplex blood test, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says
- It is the test that was requested by the British Alpaca Society at the time, George Eustice says
- The UK government says this is the same test used on "a prize bull"
- Owner Helen Macdonald says there is insufficient evidence as to the accuracy of this relatively new test when used on alpacas
- Defra says Enferplex has a 0.34% chance of showing a false positive
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