The saga of Lee the Llama

Let me introduce you to Lee the Llama. Lee is a resident at a nearby farm and is a firm favourite with all who visit on Farm Open Days or who walk past his field on the 'Apple Way' Trail. He's a very cute camelid but he had a brush with bureaucracy recently which almost lead to his demise. Let me tell you the tale.

 New official rules from Animal Health (APHA) on testing ‘camelids’ (llamas, alpacas, vicunas et al) for bovine TB came into force last autumn. A skin test on Lee just before last Christmas deemed him clear but a subsequent blood test on New Year's Eve resulted in a ‘positive’, which was bad news for Lee. Our farmer friend, the owner of Lee, was told, very bluntly, that Lee had to be shot within 24 hours. Our farmer friend and his family were distraught and contacted the APHA laboratory to request that Lee be humanely euthanized rather than shot. At this stage, APHA senior vets admitted to a mistake and said that a mandatory confirmatory second blood test had not been carried out. When it was done, it came up negative. Hooray for Lee  and he lives to see another day! His lady friend, Sophie the Welsh Black, was delighted. It could have turned out so differently if APHA's instructions had been followed straightaway.