The Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs was ”unreasonable” and, ”without good grounds”, wanted to cull birds on the farm of a breeder of exotic birds outside Pretoria, the Pretoria High Court found on Friday.
A full bench of the court set aside an earlier decision by the court that would have seen Hilko Insel’s birds worth R2-million culled because they might have had avian flu.
Insel brought the application to stop the culling but the department dropped its opposition to the application after two separate tests done by Onderstepoort veterinary laboratory and in Stellenbosch found that the birds did not have bird flu.
The department earlier ordered the culling of the birds and quarantined Insel’s farm when it was found that he bought exotic water birds hatched from eggs smuggled into the country. He did not know the eggs were smuggled into the country.
”I’m very glad it seems to me that there is still some justice in the courts. It is just sad that 800 birds had lost their lives before any tests could be done on them,” Insel said.
He said it was a traumatic experience for him, his wife and their work force, who stood to lose everything.
”I hope the quarantine can now be lifted because all the birds were tested and the tests were negative,” he said.
Department officials at the court did not want to comment on the outcome of the case.
The court also ruled that the department had to bear the costs of the case. — Sapa