suein56
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Southern Morbihan 56 Brittany
Posts: 7,520
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Post by suein56 on Aug 31, 2021 13:17:12 GMT 1
I feel bitterly disappointed as, altho obviously no expert, it seems bizarre to me that no consideration was given by the powers that be to the fact that the alpaca was still alive .. even tho apparently it had had TB for 4 years,so perhaps the tests were not accurate.
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exile
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Massif Central
Posts: 2,686
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Post by exile on Aug 31, 2021 13:55:36 GMT 1
I feel bitterly disappointed as, altho obviously no expert, it seems bizarre to me that no consideration was given by the powers that be to the fact that the alpaca was still alive .. even tho apparently it had had TB for 4 years,so perhaps the tests were not accurate. " In cattle, it is mainly a respiratory disease but clinical signs are rare." www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/what-bovine-tuberculosis-tbIn other words bovines are not badly affected by Bovine TB. They are however very good at passing it on - humans, dogs, deer, pigs, cats etc being high on the list of those who are likely to catch it and which in the main will show clinic symptoms. So there is no evidence that the tests were wrong. Yes it is very sad but think of the potential consequences of this animal passing the TB on and the impacts on the wider mammal population. If the beast had had Foot and Mouth would you still be crying for its life to be spared?
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suein56
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Southern Morbihan 56 Brittany
Posts: 7,520
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Post by suein56 on Aug 31, 2021 14:13:20 GMT 1
www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/what-bovine-tuberculosis-tbIn other words bovines are not badly affected by Bovine TB. They are however very good at passing it on - humans, dogs, deer, pigs, cats etc being high on the list of those who are likely to catch it and which in the main will show clinic symptoms. So there is no evidence that the tests were wrong. Yes it is very sad but think of the potential consequences of this animal passing the TB on and the impacts on the wider mammal population. If the beast had had Foot and Mouth would you still be crying for its life to be spared? I think it is relevant that the owner of the alpaca has cuddled it, groomed it and cared for it all the while being in very close proximity to this supposedly infectious animal for the past 4 years and yet she has not become ill or infected herself.
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Veem
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Posts: 12,007
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Post by Veem on Aug 31, 2021 14:29:03 GMT 1
A very knowledgeable British couple used to have an alpaca farm very close to us until quite recently. This is what Ginny posted this morning on FB:-
"Alpacas are within a group of animals referred to as Obligates .... This means they can ONLY breathe through their noses.
There were enough vets, alpaca breeders and animal activists there this morning (when DEFRA came for Geronimo, presumably to take him away and shoot him), to know this. AND to know how much distress is being caused by tying a rope around his nose."
An accompanying press photo showed a rope halter very tightly tied close to his nostrils.
At the very least, if they had to do what they did, every care should have been taken to avoid his distress.
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Post by manonthemoon2 on Aug 31, 2021 15:08:11 GMT 1
Yes indeed!
Sounds like they didn't know, or didn't care about the alpaca.
Will the owner have a PM I wonder. That will define clearly whether he did or did not have TB and possibly show what the owner has said for 4 years 😪
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FFS
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As usual, in front of my laptop when I'm here
Posts: 2,797
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Post by FFS on Aug 31, 2021 16:43:26 GMT 1
Will the owner have a PM I wonder. That will define clearly whether he did or did not have TB and possibly show what the owner has said for 4 years 😪 From the article: If there isn't any bTB found, I doubt we'll be told.
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Post by Crystal on Aug 31, 2021 16:52:04 GMT 1
There is no-one who loves animals more than I, but even I can understand that any animal testing positive for TB is a threat, whether it has shown symptoms of the disease or not.
We should all now be well aware of the fact that even if testing positive, you don't always display symptoms of a disease, but this doesn't rule out the possibility that you can still transmit the disease...
Many UK farmers are losing their livelihoods and decades of breeding lines are being wiped out as thousands of cows are destroyed every month to control the spread of TB, so I don't understand why people think an infected animal should have been allowed to escape the rules, just because it is kept as a pet.
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exile
Member
Massif Central
Posts: 2,686
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Post by exile on Aug 31, 2021 18:24:50 GMT 1
www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/what-bovine-tuberculosis-tbIn other words bovines are not badly affected by Bovine TB. They are however very good at passing it on - humans, dogs, deer, pigs, cats etc being high on the list of those who are likely to catch it and which in the main will show clinic symptoms. So there is no evidence that the tests were wrong. Yes it is very sad but think of the potential consequences of this animal passing the TB on and the impacts on the wider mammal population. If the beast had had Foot and Mouth would you still be crying for its life to be spared? I think it is relevant that the owner of the alpaca has cuddled it, groomed it and cared for it all the while being in very close proximity to this supposedly infectious animal for the past 4 years and yet she has not become ill or infected herself. Has she received the BCG jab? Is she one of the 75% or so that develop immunity? I cannot answer either of those but there could be good reasons why she has never been infected.
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Post by Crystal on Aug 31, 2021 19:00:19 GMT 1
I've just had an interesting conversation with our vet about this. He's a horse specialist, but knows his stuff on all farm animals.
He said there is a form of TB called 'tuberculose latente' which can lie dormant in the body, sometimes for years. More often than not, at some point in the animals life, the virus will suddenly become active and the animal will become infectious, then very sick and die, but until then the only way of knowing it is infected is through testing. During the dormant stage the animal will have no symptoms and won't be infectious, but will test positive.
Maybe that's what the Llama had.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2021 19:08:47 GMT 1
Point of order: TB is not a virus it's a bacillus (bacterium).
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Post by Crystal on Aug 31, 2021 19:40:36 GMT 1
Point of order: TB is not a virus it's a bacillus (bacterium). sorry about that, it wasn't word for word translation of what he said, just the gist of what he said, in my words...I don't know anything about it, viruses or bacilluses....or should that be bacilli?
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FFS
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As usual, in front of my laptop when I'm here
Posts: 2,797
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Post by FFS on Aug 31, 2021 19:47:45 GMT 1
Point of order: TB is not a virus it's a bacillus (bacterium). Picky, picky!
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ibis
Banned Member
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Post by ibis on Aug 31, 2021 20:13:32 GMT 1
I think my father had the same. positive for TB but not infectious... Never asked if he was cured or not but it is not one of his problems now...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2021 21:43:07 GMT 1
Point of order: TB is not a virus it's a bacillus (bacterium). Picky, picky! The difference between a virus and a bacterium is as stark as that between an elephant and a daffodil.
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Post by Crystal on Aug 31, 2021 22:20:33 GMT 1
I actually do know the difference between a virus and a bacterium ...but I wrongly assumed TB was a virus!
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