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Comments on the dilemma in the September issue: ‘“Off colour” alpaca’
Author(s) -
Mullan Siobhan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
in practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.211
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 2042-7689
pISSN - 0263-841X
DOI - 10.1136/inp.h5118
Subject(s) - animal welfare , biosecurity , dilemma , phone , medicine , welfare , veterinary medicine , isolation (microbiology) , political science , law , pathology , biology , bioinformatics , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology
The dilemma in the September issue concerned an ‘off colour’ alpaca in a paddock next to the one you were working in; you were attending to one of your client's sheep. The owner told you that the alpaca had been ‘off colour’ recently, but when you offered to examine the animal, the owner refused. You were aware that the area had a high rate of TB and had recently had a TB breakdown in a group of alpacas ( IP , September 2015, vol 37, pp 430‐431). Andrea Turner suggested that a possible way forward might be to phone the owner in a couple of days to check up on the animal. If there was no improvement or the animal had deteriorated, and the owner still refused a visit, you could highlight that the welfare of the animal was likely to have been compromised and that it was possible that it might be suffering from bovine TB. Biosecurity and isolation of the animal should be discussed, along with the possibility of voluntary TB testing. Mentioning that the RSPCA might have to be involved on animal welfare grounds, or the APHA due to potential TB infection, might be enough to persuade the owner to allow you to examine the animal.