Hundreds of alpacas have had to be slaughtered after contracting bovine TB.

The herd of up to 500 animals has been put down by Government vets after the disease (bTB) was detected at Manor House Farm in Wivelsfield, near Burgess Hill.

They belong to Alpacas of America, run by American vet Bill Barrett, which breeds them for sale within Britain and to mainland Europe as pets.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) suggested badgers could be blamed for spreading bTB.

Badgers move through fields where animals graze and spread bTB through urination.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) is investigating the outbreak.

An AHVLA spokesman confirmed that a number of alpacas “have been culled at a premises in Sussex” after testing positive for bTB.

He said: “We continue to work hard to control and eradicate the infection, establish its likely source and trace any potentially infected alpacas that were moved or sold to other holdings before bTB was diag- nosed in this herd.”

A man close to Mr Barrett said: “It’s awful.

“They have no idea how bTB got into the herd but they have all been killed.”

He said Mr Barrett sold male alpacas for about £800 and female alpacas for about £1,500. Another alpaca farmer, Nick Harrington-Smith from Thakeham, near Storrington, said that some alpacas could sell for about £100,000. He had heard of the alpaca cull and said while it was unlikely Mr Barrett had alpacas worth such huge amounts, he would have taken a massive financial hit.

He said the Government only offered compensation at a rate of about £750 per dead animal.

Mr Harrington-Smith said: “There is an ill-formed hysteria surrounding alpacas and bTB and it spreading.

“BTB does not spread any quicker in alpacas than other animals.” H e said officials were tracing the movements of the Wivelsfield herd over the past six years and that the Government agency was “on top of the situation”.

An area of farmland stretching across East Sussex to Brighton is regarded as a bTB hotspot.

Within that area cattle are tested regularly for bTB but the same restrictions do not apply to alpacas and other camelids such as llamas. The NFU said it would like to see camelids face more stringest testing.