Following an increase in the number of detections of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) in wild birds and other captive birds, the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer from Scotland and Chief Veterinary Officer from England have declared a national Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) to mitigate the risk of the disease spreading amongst poultry and other captive birds.
This means that from 12:00 noon on Saturday 25 January, it became a legal requirement for all bird keepers in Scotland and England to follow strict and enhanced biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the threat of Avian Influenza.
Mandatory housing measures are not (yet) in place nationwide, but they are in the East Riding of Yorkshire, City of Kingston Upon Hull, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Shropshire, York and North Yorkshire.
A national AIPZ has not yet been declared for Wales.
The declaration for England can be read here.
The declaration for Scotland can be read here.
As we’re now at the very end of the gamebird shooting season (ends on Saturday 1st Feb 2025), these new AIPZs won’t affect the release of gamebirds for shooting because although the AIPZ does not permit the release of gamebirds in these areas, nobody will be releasing birds at this time of year – instead they’ll be trying to kill as many as they can.
However, some shooting estates will also be ‘catching up’ gamebirds and ducks (this is permitted until 1 Feb in England and up until 28 February in Scotland) to use and/or sell the birds for breeding projects. There are now conditions imposed on the keepers of those birds, including a legal requirement not to move them on to other premises until 21 days after catching them. Details can be found here:
If you’re wondering how they’re allowed to catch up wild birds and keep them in captivity, you need to learn about Schrodinger’s Pheasant, where the status of non-native gamebirds such as pheasants and red-legged partridges changes from ‘livestock’ to ‘wildlife’ and back to ‘livestock’, to suit the interests of the game-shooting industry. This absurdity has been examined by Wild Justice here and here and with this infographic:
The declaration of the nationwide Avian Influenza Prevention Zones does not restrict gamebird shooting so we can expect more end-of-season shoots to take place this week, with a high likelihood that already-infected pheasants and red-legged partridges will be forcibly flying around the countryside as they’re chased towards the waiting guns, spreading a highly contagious disease to other wildlife. Then there’s the widespread distribution of potentially-infected gamebird carcasses finding their way in to the food chain.
But who cares about the national threat, eh? As long as the gamebird shooters can have their fun, right?
Raptor Persecution UK 
convenient DEFRA waits til the end of the shooting season. The sensible approach would be not to put 50 million non native gamebirds into the countryside in the first place.
There have been constant barrages of shooting going on in the woods all round my house since Sat 11 Jan – including shooting after dark – and despite being on the edge of a declared Avian flu zone at the time. Pheasant shooting has not been conducted here for 25 years. It seems that public money subsidies to grow crops (not to feed people but to manufacture alcohol and cattle feed on so-called “prime agricultural land”) are now not enough to satisfy the Big Bank Accounts. Pheasants take food from the wild food chain depleting the food available for hedgehogs and wild birds. They can infect wild birds. Shot contaminates the ground. And to top it all the Ancient Plantation compartments of the woods are proposed to be felled (will become wood chip) – anyone might think there was a war on nature being declared (surely not!). BTW “road safety” is all you need to put on your Felling Permission Application and you’ll get away with murder (under carefully controlled conditions of course, called a’licence’ :).
I’ll tell the two pheasants that are frequenting my garden to keep their heads down for a few more days if they want to continue enjoying their wildlife status.
With possibly infected carcasses lying around there is always the chance H5N1 will get into mammals in the UK, as it has already done across the US.
“Initially restricted to wild birds and poultry, H5N1 has spilled over into other mammals, including wildlife like foxes, bears, and seals; domestic animals, like cats and dogs; and farm animals like goats and dairy cows“
https://dem.ri.gov/press-releases/dem-confirms-domestic-bird-case-avian-flu#:~:text=The%20widespread%20prevalence%20of%20H5N1,like%20goats%20and%20dairy%20cows.
“67 Confirmed Total Reported Human Cases in the United States, including 1 death”
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
It would appear that HPAI has already been recorded in mammals in Britain.
“In the UK, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has tested 66 mammals, including seals, and found nine otters and foxes were positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1.”
From an article on the BBC website 2nd February 2023
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64474594
Just as well I have faith in the integrity of shoots and of game farms, and on the efficacy of Defra’s softly-softly feather light touch of enforcement. If I didn’t, then I would be sceptical that all or most shoots that have done a deal to supply caught-up pheasants to the game farms will really keep them on their site for 21 days. Seems to me you would need to either catch up your target number over very few days and call that it, or set up a lot of separate pens up in which to house each daily incremental catches separately. Otherwise introducing daily catches to the same pen would mean restarting the 21 days, wouldn’t it?
I understand avian flu has been present in the UK wild bird population since the last outbreak a few years ago. It would seem from what we know about viruses, that they are able to spread and linger in areas of high population density. It is therefore a national scandal that the shooting industry is permitted to release millions of non native game birds into the countryside each year, as these birds congregate in dense populations, and are an obvious risk to harbour and spread the virus. If there are continuous outbreaks of avian flu over time, then there has to be a risk that this will have a serious impact on the government’s nature recovery targets. I am sure those in DEFRA are aware of this risk. I also strongly suspect the economic benefits of the game bird shooting industry do not compensate for the additional costs to UK poultry industry when birds have to be housed indoors. This all begs the question why isn’t there a ban on rearing and releasing game birds into the countryside?
It makes me wonder if the governments approach to avian flu isn’t that dissimilar to its approach to bovine TB and the badger cull. Which is to ignore the science and pander to political and vested interests.
Well said John L ignoring science and doing what they bloody like the government just pay lip service to us all they don’t give a toss about anything it’s a sham and sad for other people who are towing the line .