Doomed alpaca triggers outcry against British PM Johnson

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives on the second day of the Global Education Summit in London, Britain July 29, 2021. Tolga Akmen/Pool via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) - The fate of a doomed eight-year-old alpaca named Geronimo has triggered an outcry against British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after his government ordered the animal be put down because of positive tests for bovine tuberculosis.

The order to kill the alpaca prompted pleas from owner Helen Macdonald for Johnson and his wife Carrie to show mercy, prompting some celebrities to demand the prime minister swerve away from what they cast as a public relations disaster.