Nine thousand birds euthanised after bird-brained flu lockdown breach

A poultry farm located on the Golden Plains Shire has been held responsible for the death of thousands of turkeys and chickens, costing the public over half a million dollars.

A poultry farm and one of its managers have been fined just $4500 after ignoring transport bans during a bird flu outbreak which killed thousands of its animals.

Pindarri Poultry Pty Ltd and the company’s development manager Glenn Canning were slapped with the fines at the Geelong Magistrates Court on June 21 after illegally moving poultry during what turned into the largest bird flu outbreak in Australia.

Magistrate Peter Mellas labelled the case “an unusual situation” that cost the lives of thousands of birds and came at a large expense to the public.

The court heard Mr Canning discussed the outbreak with a staff member before telling him not to let the birds out of the shed on August 2, 2020.

Two days later, Mr Canning ordered the transport of 792 turkeys from the Lethbridge farm to the company’s Bairnsdale property.

An outbreak of avian influenza – a highly contagious viral infection in birds – was confirmed across the Golden Plains Shire on July 31, 2020.

Restricted and controlled areas were put in place to stop the movement of birds, related equipment and products on the same day.

Agriculture Victoria reported the “demeanour of the birds decreased noticeably and the number of mortalities increased” at the Lethbridge property before confirming the avian influenza strain had infected Pindarri Poultry’s livestock.

All turkeys at Bairnsdale, including those that were already located at the property, had to be euthanised, amounting to about 4000 birds.

Poultry farm illegally transported birds during avian flu lockdown

The court heard that about 9000 turkeys and more than 2500 chickens at both properties were euthanised costing the community more than $650,000.

Pindarri Poultry’s defence lawyer told the court the company had also suffered significant economic loss with the 9000 turkeys being valued at $1.2m.

“This business is their life, this is how they make money,” the lawyer said

“They lost immediate and future income on top of Covid.”

Agriculture Victoria confirmed to the Geelong Advertiser at the time of the outbreak about 450,000 birds had to be “depopulated” at three Golden Plains farms and one East Gippsland farm as a result of the outbreak.

A representative said it was the largest outbreak of the influenza ever recorded in Australia.

Mr Mellas told the court the incident was about protecting public health, animal health and domestic export markets.

“It is an unusual situation. Very few or no circumstances like this matter have come to court before,” he said.

“The situation led to the euthanisation of a large number of animals … and significant expenditure from the public to ensure the spread was contained.”

Pindarri Poultry Pty Ltd was charged with moving infected livestock out of a control area without a permit in August 2020

Mr Canning was fined $1000 without conviction while the company received a $3500 fine with conviction plus service fees to be paid to the Jobs Precincts and Regions Department.

Originally published as Nine thousand birds euthanised after bird-brained flu lockdown breach