Summary
A llama farm owner has been left ‘heartbroken’ after losing eight animals to tuberculosis (TB) in a week – forcing the business to shut down for most of 2026. Lisa Fox said seven of her llamas were culled on her birthday after testing positive for disease under instructions from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
Details
The devastating outbreak began when a llama named Stardust fell ill and later died with a post-mortem confirming TB, triggering urgent testing across the herd. The results showed seven more animals were infected – leaving Lisa with the hard decision to have them put down to protect the rest of her animals.
A further 27 llamas remain in isolation, with fears they could also be culled if future tests come back positive. Lisa who owns Briery Hill Llamas in Newent, in the Forest of Dean, said: “As a family we are devastated after losing eight llamas to TB. “We have been offered no help by the government bodies and we are now closed down for practically the whole of 2026.
Stardust was the first llama that became ill on the farm. He passed away the post-mortem showed it got TB. “We then had a first set of testing that resulted in showing that seven of our llamas being positive with TB.
It meant that all of those llamas had to be isolated and had to be put down. The reason why I did it was for the rest of the herd because I love our animals so much I don’t look at them as property. “We just lost sleep over it.
The effect on your mental health – there’s no words. It is like living in a nightmare and you just hope you are going to wake-up but the problem is that it’s real. Not being able to do what you love doing is shattering.
There needs to be more government support, now we are just left in the cold.” The entire family-owned farm, which also has pigs, and cows was subjected to mandatory TB testing by the Animal Plant and Health Agency. But the main income of the farm is the experiences with llamas including llama trekking and therapy work with the llamas.
Lisa is now unable to offer these experiences until further rounds of clear TB testing are completed in the rest of the herd – set to be by the end of 2026. Although compensation is available for culled animals, Lisa says it does not cover veterinary bills or the wider financial losses. She said the vet bill for Stardust was nearly £15,000.
What You Need to Know
A further 27 llamas remain in isolation, with fears they could also be culled if future tests come back positive. Lisa who owns Briery Hill Llamas in Newent, in the Forest of Dean, said: “As a family we are devastated after losing eight llamas to TB. “We have been offered no help by the government bodies and we are now closed down for practically the whole of 2026.