A cow which was "stolen" and destroyed by government officials due to a suspected case of bovine TB did not have the disease, the farmer has said.
Farming couple Hilary and Trevor Ogden, from Stroud in Gloucestershire, told the BBC they returned home to their farm to find an open gate had been dismantled.
Government officials had forced their way into the farm to take a cow suspected of having bovine TB. It has now been confirmed that the cow did not have the disease.
The government has described such interventions as being "very rare", and compensation is paid in the loss of any livestock.
The couple said their cow had been tested twice during the summer and was cleared by the vet.
However, Mrs Ogden claimed she was followed when out shopping "so they would know when we were at home and when we weren't".
"You're treated as if you're drug dealers or terrorists... that's what they do with people like that," she told the BBC.
A Defra spokesperson said: "Despite the distress and devastation caused by needing to remove cattle as reactors, the vast majority of livestock keepers cooperate with the government's policy to eradicate bovine TB from the national herd.
"All such owners are contacted in person by APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) and the reasons for reactor removal and arrangements for their removal are explained in full and compensation is paid for the loss of each reactor."
