UK vets euthanize alpaca with bovine TB after public battle

LONDON (AP) — British government veterinarians have killed an alpaca whose sentence of death made international headlines and pitted animal activists against the state. Veterinary staff in blue overalls, masks and goggles, backed by police officers, arrived at the western England farm where Geronimo lived and took the animal from his pen on Tuesday. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed he had been euthanized. The controversial camelid had twice testing positive for bovine tuberculosis, but Geronimo’s owner had argued the tests were faulty. Bovine TB can devastate cattle herds and hurt farm revenues. Animal activists had camped out at the farm and vowed to stop the killing, which the alpaca’s owner called “barbaric.”