Temple bullock put down as more may face slaughter

MORE animals at a religious community could be slaughtered after Shambo the temple bullock was finally put down.

Despite a long-running legal challenge by monks, he was seized by animal health officials on Thursday after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis.

Shambo was put down by lethal injection and a post mortem examination found further signs of infection.

A spokesman for the Skanda Vale community in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, said another bullock and a water buffalo could now fall into the same category as Shambo.

He said: “We were hoping it was over now but it is obviously not.”

The monks’ attempt to spare Shambo from the Welsh Assembly Government’s slaughter policy ended at the Court of Appeal.

On Thursday, three months after Shambo failed a routine TB test, dozens of worshippers barred access to his pen by spending the day chanting prayers in front of him.

In extraordinary scenes, police had to carry some people away after they refused to move.

Officials were denied access to Skanda Vale at the beginning of a day-long stand-off and were forced to obtain a warrant and return with police back-up.

The Welsh Assembly Government would not elaborate on what could happen to other animals.

It said lesions typical of TB had been found during Shambo’s post mortem.

“This means that a positive TB breakdown is now confirmed in the herd,” a statement said.

Samples have been taken for laboratory tests but results will not be available for several weeks.

It said tests on the herd in June showed more cattle could be infected.

The monks consider the lives of all animals as sacred. They insist animals with TB can be treated without posing a risk to human health.

The community’s other animals include an elephant, 10 ponies, 13 water buffalo, 12 goats, 40 cows and bulls, two llamas, and 20 deer.