West country cops have seized Geronimo the consumptive alpaca to be put down — despite attempts by "human shields" to save his woolly skin.
A video post on Twitter by activists showed officers from the Avon and Somerset force fanning out across a field as they tried to corral the furry fugitive at McDonald's farm.
The aptly-named ministry Defra — the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs — had ordered New Zealand-born Geronimo be put to death after he twice tested positive for tuberculosis (TB). A judicial review brought by his owner Helen McDonald failed to win a reprieve for the animal.
Activist vet Dr Iain McGill tweeted later that Geronimo was still alive in police custody and urged "civil disobedience by any means" to save him.
Dyer and McGill both revealed they had been involved with the widely-criticised "Operation Ark" charter flight to evacuate 158 cats and dogs from former Royal Marine "Pen" Farthing's Nowzad animal refuge in the Afghan capital Kabul — while leaving his vets, nurses, and other staff behind while seats on the plane lay empty.