A petition to save Geronimo the alpaca from execution has hit close to 100,000 signatures.

Helen Macdonald, the pet's owner, lost a court appeal after the government told her that the pet needed to be put down after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis.

A petition on Change.org has received nearly 100,000 signatures from people in Britain, asking the government to save the alpaca’s life.

A steady flow of protesters has been gathering at Shepherds Close Farm in Gloucestershire to voice their anger at the decision to end Geronimo's life.

Shepherds Close Farm, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, UK. 9th August, 2021. Geronimo the alpaca makes an appearance together with his owner Helen Macdonald as a steady flow of protesters gather at the Gloucestershire in a bid to save the animal's life.

Owner Helen Macdonald began a legal battle against the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in 2018 in an attempt to save her stud alpaca, Geronimo, who tested positive twice for bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The alpaca breeder and veterinary nurse from South Gloucestershire previously claimed there was“overwhelming evidence” which proved that the alpaca was not infected, and said the original test results were “not reliable”.

But after losing her original High Court bid in 2019, a district judge signed an “execution warrant” in May 2021 which gave permission to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to seize Geronimo. In July 2021 Miss Macdonald brought an appeal against the warrant to the High Court, arguing that the district judge had made an error. But in his judgement last month, Mr Justice Griffiths rejected the appeal and said the judge who signed the warrant was correct.