The reprieve for Shambo may bring cheer to the Hindu community in Britain but it will infuriate many who see it as a dangerous precedent.

The judge today suggested that the Welsh Assembly had not sufficiently taken into account that the slaughter of the bullock would be a serious infringement of the human rights of the Skanda religious community. In other circumstances the Government defends religious rights over animal welfare concerns. For example, animals providing kosher meat for the Jewish community have their throats cut and are bled without any pre-stunning techniques.

The difference with Shambo is that the animals at slaughter pose no risk of disease to other animals or to human health even if the animal welfare may be compromised.

On bovine TB the Government strategy is resolutely for the total eradication of the disease. Therefore leaving one infected animal alive, it is being argued, adds to the reservoir of the disease in the country - even if the animal is far removed from the food chain and other farm animals.

There is also concern that any exception may set a precedent. Other farmers, particularly hobby farmers who keep cattle as pets and who never slaughter their animals for the food chain, might also plead special treatment if their animals contract the disease. If this became widespread there would then be complications for overseas trade. Britain would not be allowed to export breeding cattle overseas from regions where bovine TB was present. This would affect farm incomes and the national economy.

There may not be a huge market in export of cattle from farms neighbouring Shambo’s home in Carmarthenshire but the risk to any adjacent farms would be real. The disease can be carried in the faeces of the animal and it could also be picked up by badgers, rats and mice and spread to other farmland and animals if any bio-security were comprised. These adjacent farms would also have to be subject to regular testing for bovine TB.

The Welsh Assembly is to appeal the High Court decision and a hearing is expected early next week. Such timing could not be worse for the authorities as it would coincide with the annual gathering of Welsh farmers at Royal Welsh Agricultural Show in Builth Wells, mid Wales.

Farmers have already condemned the whole saga as “ludicrous.” The believe the judge’s reprieve sends the wrong message to an industry which is compelled by the law to comply to the slaughter of their animals whenever bovine TB is confirmed. They believe this is the only sure route to help eradicate the disease.

There are clearly arguments for human rights considerations but sometimes the wider public good and interest has to over-ride those rights.

The animal itself now faces a lingering death. Even if the bullock is kept in the equivalent of a form of sacred quarantine and other animals are protected from the disease, state vets insist there is no accepted treatment to cure an animal of bovine TB. The animal could survive for nine months or even 18 months before succumbing to death from the disease. If humans contract the disease they can be successfully treated. So anyone choosing to look after the bullock can do so safe in the knowledge that he or she is likely to recover after a course of antibiotics.

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