There are fears of a turkey shortage this Christmas as three million have had to be culled in the Uk because of bird flu. Special protection zones have been created in Norfolk, Suffolk, parts of Essex and the whole of the south-west of England in a bid to stop the spread of the disease, reports the Mirror.
The Daily Mail reports James Mottershead, chairman of the National Farmers' Union poultry board, as saying that the disease could cause “carnage” over the festive period.
“If bird flu gets into turkeys that could cause holy carnage; that could cause real supply chain issues in the run-up to Christmas,” he said. “I know of some instances where seasonal turkey producers have been affected.”
He said farms that have an outbreak and are classed as infected could have to stop raising birds for up to a year. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said officials were working to “eradicate the disease as quickly as possible”.
Around one billion birds are farmed in the UK each year and other species, such as ducks, are also at risk. James Coleman, who has had to cull 20,000 ducks at his Devon farm, told Sky News: “At the moment everybody in the industry is just on tenterhooks constantly.”
