Geronimo Was Innocent!

[Purwell]

Geronimo the Alpaca was dragged away and put down because the authorities said he was carrier of bovine TB. When they killed him and did as many tests as they could think of, they discovered he was not a carrier.
Link to Sky News.
Geronimo

 

[horseless carriage]

There is a tuberculosis (TB) blood test, also called an Interferon Gamma Release Assay or IGRA. It's a way to find out if you have TB germs in your body. The TB blood test can be done instead of a TB skin test (Mantoux). There are two kinds of TB blood tests.

It must work on animals because pasteurised milk, back in the 1950's, was always tested for TB. The bottle top on the milk confirmed the testing.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

I'm confused with all these TB terms and tests. I can see why officials would want to rid a herd, and eventually humans from getting TB, by killing Geronimo. I'm not sure how accurate those tests for TB actually are.

 

[Bellbird]

Those tests are not always accurate and can and will give a false positive. (As most vaccines can) It is usual to test a few more times before putting the animal down. I am not surprised Geronimo never had TB coming from NZ he would have been fully tested and vaccinated before he left these shores.