Bird flu housing measures extended in England

The government has extended mandatory housing measures in northern England to help prevent further outbreaks of avian influenza (AI).

Farmers and keepers in Cumbria, County Durham, Northumberland, and Tyneside are now legally required to house their birds as a result of increased cases of AI in wild birds, commercial poultry and captive birds.

The extension is in addition to housing measures already in place in East Yorkshire, Hull, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Shropshire, York, North Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Lancashire as well as the whole of Northern Ireland.

Dominic Boulton, Game Sector Representative for Defra’s National Avian Disease Core Group, told ST: “This is just the latest chapter in the story of this unpredictable and hugely damaging disease.

“The majority of game farms will have started setting eggs by now and this is the last thing they will want to see. Disease control zones will also increase the pressure on game farms where licences are required to move eggs and chicks to and from hatcheries.

“The biosecurity requirements which current restrictions place on all bird keepers may seem onerous but stringent biosecurity has repeatedly been shown to be the best defence against the incursion of this disease.”