Geronimo, the stud alpaca from Gloucestershire, has caused a stir bigger than I’ve ever seen after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis not once, but twice.
He took the media by storm as thousands of individuals petitioned to save his life.
Bovine TB is rife in the agricultural world – you don’t have to go far before you speak to someone whose livelihood has been forever changed by the disease hitting their herd.
I’m not exaggerating when I say it is one of the most feared and nerve-racking days in a farmer’s calendar because bTB takes no prisoners.
If bTB hits your farm you are completely helpless, with farms in some cases losing all their stock.
No petition or media campaign will change the outcome, the farmer is powerless as he or she watches the stock they love so much leave the farm, never to return.
About 750 cattle were culled – sorry, let’s use the right emotive words, they were destroyed – in Great Britain in the last week.
Behind these figures lies pure devastation. It’s a battle many farmers face year-on-year, yet nobody gives it a second thought.
Under no circumstances should there be an exemption to the rule when it comes to this disease.
However, I do believe every animal that falls to it and every farmer who has to stand aside and watch it deserves the same support Geronimo had.
In the year to March, in England alone 28,356 animals were lost due to testing positive for bTB.
These are mind-blowing numbers I struggle to get my head around.
To see the super priority given to one alpaca over 30,000 animals demonstrates one thing only – that the divide between the British public, the media and the farming industry is far greater than we ever thought.
Whether an animal is in your care as a pet or part of your farming business they are treated with love, care and devotion.
We all like to think our animals are special, but to think they individually behave in a unique way which makes them exempt from accepted protocol is ludicrous.
However, in every cloud there is a silver lining.
Geronimo has brought so much attention to bTB that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.
Finally it is starting to shine a light on the serious impact this disease has, allowing farmers to share their experiences of loss and, most importantly, applying pressure on the Government to take some significant steps to control bTB.
Hopefully the legacy this little alpaca leaves behind will kickstart improvements in the bTB battle.
