4000 rare chickens imported from the UK as part of a breeding program headed by the Australian Poultry Importation Syndicate will be destroyed.
The syndicate agreed to the destruction order after three more salmonella infections were confirmed earlier this week, the Weekly Times Now reports.
The Federal Agriculture Department initially ordered for the chicks to be destroyed over two weeks ago due to a single salmonella infection. The breeders won a Supreme Court injunction late last week to keep the chicks alive, however the additional salmonella infections have confirmed that incident was not isolated.
The Australian Poultry Importation Syndicate sourced the rare imported chicks from across the UK as part of a $500,000, 10 year breeding program, and were due to be released to breeders later this month.
The birds are currently being held in quarantine at Torrens Island where they have been since April.