The industrial poultry farming sector needs to be radically restructured to stop the spread of bird flu, says a report that argues wild birds are victims rather than the main vectors of the disease.
Bird flu is spiralling out of control and being spread by intensive poultry farms, according toreport by the campaign group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF).
Overcrowded sheds provide a perfect place for viruses to mutate and spread, it argues. Chickens should instead be kept in much smaller flocks and given more space.
The report suggests a three-point action plan: mass vaccination of poultry to stop the spread; a radical restructuring of the industry to raise healthier birds in better environments; and changing the way pigs are farmed, as it says factory farmed pigs can act as “mixing vessels” to create new pig, bird and human viruses.
CIWF has written to the UK, US and various European governments urging them to work with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to put these measures in place.
Its chief policy adviser, Peter Stevenson, said: “Bird flu is like a ticking timebomb. Unless we wake up and take urgent action to end factory farming, we will simply be unable to stop its rapid spread across the globe or reduce the risk of a serious human pandemic developing.
“Cramming animals together in factory farms in not only totally inhumane, it’s creating the perfect place for bird flu and other viruses to spread and mutate into more dangerous strains.”
The RSPCA agreed that industrial poultry farm must be reformed. Dr Marc Cooper, the charity’s head of farm animals, said: “We support calls for an end to intensive farming and want to see all farmed animals, including poultry, kept in higher welfare conditions, as well as the use of more robust, higher welfare breeds.
“Improving the welfare of farm animals has multiple environmental and societal benefits, including helping better control diseases. When animals are kept intensively and breeds that have inherent health issues are used, the animals are more likely to have compromised immune systems and be more susceptible to diseases. Higher welfare farming can therefore help reduce disease risk.”
He noted that the use of vaccines was currently experimental. “We welcome any research into possible vaccinations which would help tackle this destructive disease. However, we believe effective vaccines are currently a long way off coming to fruition, so it’s important that bird welfare is much better protected now,” he said.
“We believe the long-term strategy to eradicate the virus needs to be a combination of vaccinations, higher welfare farming practices, which includes more robust breeds, and excellent biosecurity.”
Richard Griffiths, the chief executive of the British Poultry Council, hit back at the report. He said: “Avian influenza is carried into the UK by migratory birds. As a result, it spreads amongst the domestic wild bird population. No bird has avian influenza when it goes on to farm. All incidents derive from outside the farm through wild bird incursion. When disease is detected, the farm is culled so disease is not spread. Therefore, indoor production methods do not aid in the spread of disease.
“Conflating disease control with your opinion on how we produce food in the UK is an irresponsible way of approaching our primary concern here: ensuring the health of our birds and the sustainability of a world-class food system producing nutritious and affordable food. In these times, that matters more than ever.”
More than half a billion farmed birds have died or been culled globally due to bird flu since 2021. Many were broilers (meat chickens) that had been confined closely together in huge sheds, or egg-laying hens confined in cages with an area roughly the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
