The protracted battle over the fate of Shambo, the bull which some regarded as sacred and which made international headlines earlier this year, cost the Welsh taxpayer at least £200,000, the The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.

The Welsh Assembly Government said last night that its costs, which included legal fees and contractor costs, amounted to £188,751, the equivalent to the annual starting salaries of 9.5 nurses or 9.3 teachers.

However, the true cost of the affair is likely to be far higher, as these figures do not include the costs to other agencies involved, including Animal Health, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and Defra. Dyfed-Powys Police said they do not yet know the cost of the public order operation, which saw 56 officers deployed to the Skanda Vale Temple in Carmarthenshire on July 26, the day the bull was due to be removed for slaughter.

But at the time, the force estimated the cost at around £10,000.

The six-year-old Friesian tested positive for bovine TB in May, and WAG quickly announced its intention to slaughter the animal.