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Millions of Christmas turkeys at risk in UK’s worst bird flu outbreak

Christmas turkey supplies are at risk if the UK’s worst ever bird flu outbreak continues to spread, farmers have warned.

More than three million birds have been culled already after cases were detected at 155 different sites.

Avian influenza prevention zones have been introduced in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and the whole of the South West of England in a bid to protect the remaining livestock.

An additional 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone are in place around each of the outbreak sites.

It comes after a number of swans were found dead in the River Stour at Brundon Mill near Sudbury in Suffolk.

Farmers are concerned the scale and timing of the culls could result in a major turkey shortage this Christmas if both the livestock and supply-chain collapse.

‘It is a risk,’ James Mottershead, chairman of the National Farmers’ Union’s Poultry Board, told Sky News.

‘If bird flu, for example, gets into turkeys that could cause holy carnage; that could cause real supply chain issues in the run-up to Christmas time. The realities of it are quite severe.

‘I do know of some instances where seasonal turkey producers have been affected by this, so far, this year. If you have an outbreak on your farm and your farm is classed as an infected premises, it is serious – you could be out of production for up to 12 months.’

Ministers have promised to compensate farmers for any healthy birds which are put down, but refuse to offer payouts for any birds found to have the disease, prompting criticism from farmers.

Farms found to have had an outbreak could also be forced to stop raising birds for up to a year, Mr Mottershead added.

He said there needs to be a ‘massive review’ on how the government deals with the outbreak, and has called for further financial aid.

‘If we’re going to have a situation where the government is going to continue shutting down businesses and shutting down farms, we need financial support,’ he said.

‘The rest of the country had it through Covid – we need that same level of support.

‘If we are being forced to close through government policy, we have to have that same financial support that everybody else had so that when we’ve done the clearout and when we reopen again, we still have a business to come to.’

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said officials were working to ‘eradicate the disease as quickly as possible’.

Around one billion birds are farmed in the UK each year and other farmed animals, such as ducks, are also at risk.

In Devon, farmer James Coleman says he has been forced to cull over 20,000 ducks despite not recording a single case of avian flu just to stay ahead of the outbreak.

‘I wouldn’t say we’re clinging on – but it’s had a huge effect,’ Mr Coleman said.

‘At the moment everybody in the industry is just on tenterhooks constantly. As soon as you get a new batch of birds on our other site, you’re permanently worried.

‘Every day you go and look at them and if a duck sneezes in a slightly different fashion, you’re instantly thinking ‘hang on a minute – is something wrong?”’

While farmers try to keep their sites secure, the UK’s wild bird population is facing devastation.

Thousands of dead birds have washed up on Britain’s beaches this year, with experts warning some species have seen a population reduction between 50 to 80%.

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