GERONIMO, the alpaca due to be slaughtered following two positive bovine tuberculosis tests, has ‘almost certainly’ not got the disease, a County Durham breeder has said.

Doug Steen, who runs Teesdale Alpacas, near Barnard Castle, said it is ‘almost inconceivable’ the eight-year-old, is infected.

The alpaca was consigned for slaughter last week after his owner Helen Macdonald lost a four-year legal battle.

She has refused to allow officials to kill him at her farm in Gloucestershire but has been given 30 days to carry out a High Court warrant to end his life.

Mr Steen was visited at his farm by Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison, who has now pledged to write to Defra to raise concerns.

Miss Davison said: “We had a detailed discussion about bovine TB testing [bTB], as brought into the news by Geronimo.

“I am writing to Defra on their behalf to raise concerns about the testing regime.”

Mr Steen, who sat on the British Alpaca Society board for four years, was part of a group who met with Defra regularly to discuss bovine TB to improve the testing process.

He said: “If you look at the facts of the matter with Geronimo there is really no reason that he should have had a positive reaction to these tests.

“He comes from a farm in New Zealand and while New Zealand has bovine TB, that farm has not had a case of bovine TB for 20 years.

“They have a lot of animals. It is almost inconceivable that the one they pop on a plane and ship over to the UK happens to have it.

“In all the time they have had alpacas over there, and they test them all of the time, and they use the same tests that DEFRA would, there is a very very slim chance that he has something.”

Mr Steen is now calling for a third test for Geronimo.

He said: “There is something that smells really off about this and we would like him retested. Defra refused to do a third because it is outside of what they would normally do.

“He is bouncing around in full health. It is not the way that this disease tends to progress. It is all very doubtful. The evidence points to the fact that there is something really odd that has gone on and it is a false positive.

“There is something fishy going on and it deserves to be looked at.”

Defra said Geronimo has tested positive twice using a highly specific and reliable test.

A spokesperson said: “We are sympathetic to Ms Macdonald’s situation – just as we are with everyone with animals affected by this terrible disease.

“It is for this reason that the testing results and options for Geronimo have been very carefully considered by Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and its veterinary experts, as well as passing several stages of thorough legal scrutiny.

“Bovine tuberculosis is one of the greatest animal health threats we face today and causes devastation and distress for farming families and rural communities across the country while costing the taxpayer around £100m every year.

“Nobody wants to cull infected animals, we need to do everything we can tackle this disease to stop it spreading and to protect the livelihoods of those affected.”

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