Live #02 Various | Geronimo Defra Protest
A podcast edited from audio recorded by Off the Leash Podcasts in London on September 8th 2021 at a protest event outside the offices of Defra - the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
Defra is the government department that sanctions the badger cull and that just a week ago forcibly removed Geronimo the Alpaca from a farm in Gloucestershire, based on tests that concluded - wrongly - that Gerniomo - who was brought to the UK from New Zealand in August 2017 - had bovine TB. That claim has been consistently disputed by Geronimo's owner, Helen Macdonald, a vet who had been keeping Geronimo in isolation since Defra first issued the order to have the animal killed.
Speakers at the protest included Helen herself who talked about how Defra has harassed her for four years; highly-respected veterinary scientist Dr Iain McGill, Director of the Prion Group; Talk Radio's Kevin O'Sullivan who has been an outspoken supporter of both Geronimo and Operation Ark, the effort to get Pen Farthing and his animal rescue staff out of Afghanistan; and wildlife protection campaigner, writer and broadcaster (and The Off the Leash Podcast co-host) Dominic Dyer who also introduces the other speakers.
Longer video recordings of the protest are available online, but we have edited the key points down to make them available to as wide an audience as possible.
- BBC News Geronimo the alpaca: Who is he and why did he hit the headlines?
- Helen Macdonald Twitter feed
- Dominic Dyer Twitter feed
- Iain McGill Twitter feed
- Kevin O'Sullivan Twitter feed