Watch Shambo live on his MooTube webcam

A "sacred" Welsh bullock who tested positive for bovine tuberculosis is to be slaughtered despite wide-ranging protests from the Hindu temple where he is kept, which established a MooTube webcam so that the animal's supporters could follow his every move.

The Welsh Assembly today said that it had provisionally decided to give vets the go-ahead to slaughter Shambo, at the Skanda Vale community in Llanpumsiant, in west Wales, in order to "protect animal and human health".

In addition, Jane Davidson, the assembly's Sustainability Minister, said that further tests at the start of this month had revealed that at least two other cattle in the Skanda Vale community may also have the disease. Tests are continuing, but if found to be infected these cattle are also likely to be slaughtered.

The verdict appears close to ending an extraordinary campaign by Skanda Vale to save Shambo, who tested positive for the disease in a routine skin test in late April.

Monks at the temple say that there is no possibility of Shambo entering the human food chain and have isolated him from the rest of their herd of 55 cattle. They claim that the test shows only that there is a “statistical possibility” he could develop TB and their own vet has declared Shambo “thoroughly healthy”.

They have also threatened to take direct action, including forming a human chain around Shambo, should vets move in to slaughter him - and have set up a webcam where viewers can watch Shambo all day every day.

"I have considered extremely carefully whether the rights of the community to manifest their religion should override the duty on me to protect animal and human health," Ms Davidson said, in a statement culminating a month-long investigation.

"In the light of the veterinary, medical and legal assessments, I am minded to conclude that they should not, and that the normal policy for controlling bovine TB should be upheld in this case.

"A letter was sent to the community’s solicitors on June 25 informing them of this, and asking them to send me any further representations they wish to make so that I can take a final decision."

She added: "I am acutely aware of the distress that this will cause not only to the community, but also to many in the wider Hindu community.

"This is something that I regret deeply, but my view is that it is necessary that I take appropriate steps to protect animal and human health in this case.

"It is not a view I have reached lightly. We have considered long and hard the case that the community has made, and officials met representatives of the community and members of the wider Hindu community last week to discuss matters."

She said the Skanda Vale community had until Friday to make final representations before the decision was rubber-stamped. A date for the slaughter is then expected to be set.

Temple leaders from Skanda Vale have warned that the stand-off over Shambo’s fate could spark an international incident.

Speaking to Times Online today, Brother Alex, one of the Skanda Vale monks whose temple is based in Carmarthenshire, said they had not given up hope of saving the bullock, and were exploring possible legal challenges.

"The next stage is to see what sort of legal challenge we can put to them. Obviously, we will be making further representations to the assembly up until Friday, which is the deadline when the final decision will be made."

Refusing to rule out forming a human chain to stop the slaughter, he added: "There has been talk of direct action in the past. At the moment we are pursuing every possible legal avenue, and until all of these options are exhausted we won't contemplate what we'll do after that."

However, farmers' leaders have backed the decision to slaughter Shambo as a standard animal health procedure when any member of a herd is infected with bovine TB.

Dai Davies, the Welsh National Farmers Union (NFU) President, said the decision to slaughter the bullock was inevitable.

“There really was no alternative when it came to this decision. There must be consistency and a uniform approach to upholding the law," he said.

“As a farmer, I have every sympathy with anyone who has to have their livestock slaughtered due to bovine TB. However TB must be eradicated and the disease control regime adhered to by all. It is in no-one’s best interests to start making exceptions."

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