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The RSPB is calling for a moratorium on the release of game birds this summer to keep avian flu levels down.
The charity says it will be catastrophic for tens of millions of game birds such as pheasants and partridges to be released in late June and July for shooting in the summer and autumn with avian flu still a huge threat to wild birds.
There have been 10 outbreaks of avian flu at game-bird rearing premises since 2021. The most recent was in April at Bettws Hall Game Farm, a major facility near Newtown in Powys where protection zones are still in place.
Game birds are held in captivity in the UK before they are released for the shooting season. The Animal and Plant Health Agency classifies the birds as poultry while in captivity, but once released they are classed as wild birds for avian flu rules, and their breeder or owner is no longer their legal keeper.
About 55 million pheasants and red-legged partridges and 2.6 million mallards are reared in captivity each year for release into the countryside to be shot for sport. Bird releases start towards the end of June and continue through July and August, but before then they can be moved from farms to release pens which are often unroofed. This can lead to interactions with wild birds, putting them at risk, the RSPB says.
The Welsh government’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Richard Irvine, announced the latest protection zone around Bettws Hall Game Farm on 27 April. Under the declaration game birds are not allowed to be released.
The chair of the National Farmers Union in Montgomeryshire, Richard Jones, said it must be enforced and that no birds should released from the farm this season.
He said releases would put thousands of birds, including poultry, at risk. Jones, whose farm is within the six-mile (10km) protection zone around Bettws Hall, still has to keep his poultry, which is supposed to be free range, indoors.
He is awaiting the arrival of 21,000 new birds at the beginning of June. “The release of pheasants and game birds will hugely increase the risk to my birds. Once they are released, they are wild birds and will mix with other wild birds with avian flu. It will become a humungous problem. Meanwhile we are not allowed to release our birds outdoors because we are in the restriction zone.”
The RSPB says there should be a ban on bird releases to stop the catastrophic spread of avian flu. The charity said it was not clear how many pheasants and other game birds were tested for diseases before being released for the shooting season.
Two people have tested positive for bird flu, the UK Health Security Agency said on Tuesday. They are known to have worked on an infected poultry farm in England recently, and neither has experienced any symptoms of the disease. They were detected in a testing programme carried out by the UKHSA on poultry workers. Both have since tested negative.
A spokesperson for the Welsh government said: “The release of game birds is not permitted in any avian influenza disease control zone in Wales. Where premises are not in a disease control zone they are permitted to release game birds in line with Welsh legislation.”
Bettws Hall Farm has been contacted for comment.
