Radio 4’s normally excellent Today programme ran a story this morning on Shambo, the TB-positive bullock in Wales, which left something to be desired in the reporting standard.  Clearly, the monks at the temple are distressed but there are a few facts that I think need to be borne in mind before allowing claims like the Welsh Assembly have committed an ‘act of desecration against the temple’ and ‘sacrilege against their religion’ to go unchallenged.

The right to practice religious beliefs freely is an important one – but other rights also exist. The reality is that this world has overlapping considerations that make cases like Shambo’s particularly messy.

Based on serious public health considerations, the law of the land has deemed that cattle infected with TB should be slaughtered. As a result of this policy, twenty thousand cattle across the UK are slaughtered every year.  Farmers would undoubtedly prefer this not to happen but in the interests of society, their right to make a living gives way.  Why then should an exception be made for one bullock?

Some might argue that Shambo’s ‘holy status’ renders him more important than other cattle; but does it render him more important than human lives?  TB, thought to have been largely confined to the history books in developed nations, is making a stealthy comeback… and even more worryingly, our ability to cope with infections is being rapidly eroded due to TB’s increasing drug-resistance.  It would be deeply remiss of the authorities to allow a bull that they knew to be infected to be exempted from a measure that is there for society’s protection.

Although I believe that the monks’ offer to keep Shambo isolated was a sincere one, mistakes can happen and the stakes here are too great to run the risk.

On a final (and completely different) note, I cannot believe that keeping a bull penned up inside in complete isolation – however luxurious the circumstances – would be desirable in terms of animal welfare.