Members of a Hindu community were mourning the loss of the temple bullock Shambo on Friday as it was confirmed the six-year-old Friesian had been slaughtered.

A spokesman for the Welsh Assembly said that Shambo was put down by lethal injection on Thursday night.

It followed Thursdays’ extraordinary events as monks, who held Shambo as sacred, and protesters tried to thwart official attempts to kill the animal, which tested positive for bovine tuberculosis three months ago.

The Welsh Assembly had ordered the slaughter of Shambo to protect public and animal health, but monks in the small Skanda Vale community in Llanpumsaint, west Wales, started a legal battle to save him. However, on Monday the court of appeal finally ruled against preserving Shambo, whose plight has attracted publicity across the world.

Speaking after Shambo’s departure, Brother Alex, one of the community’s senior monks, said he believed everything had been done to save Shambo’s life.

“We did everything we could to uphold the sanctity of life,” he said.

Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said the group wanted reassurances about temple animals in the light of Shambo’s plight.