“Whilst the first priority is ensuring the cull of birds at the farm in Banbury is swift and humane, the government must wake up to the real threat of a major avian influenza pandemic,” says Philip Lymbery, Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming.

“We understand that the government plan to carry out the culling swiftly and humanely with containerised gassing and we urge them to take a consistent approach if further outbreaks occur."

Although this recent outbreak of Avian Influenza is H7, not the deadly H5N1, he added that the government cannot afford to shy away from the potential but realistic threat bird flu poses for poultry and people.

“Research shows that intensive farming is often implicated in both the cause and the spread of Avian Influenza. With billions of chickens bred intensively worldwide we have a small window of opportunity to move away from factory farming and the continuing risk posed by highly pathogenic strains of avian flu.

“It’s more important now than ever before for consumers to support free-range and organic poultry and egg farmers by buying their products.”

Further Reading

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You can visit the Avian Flu page by clicking here.