As reported in the Express, Animal Aid has discovered that, since 2020, avian flu outbreaks at ‘game’ farms in England has cost the taxpayer more than £100 million, with almost 40,000 pheasants and partridges being killed.
Millions of pounds paid to ‘game’ farms
Earlier this year, we submitted Freedom of Information requests to the government departments that deal with avian flu outbreaks. We asked about the number of outbreaks in England and Wales; the number of birds “culled” due to outbreaks; and the amount of compensation paid to game farms as a result. What we found was extremely concerning.
Between the start of 2020 and September 2025, there were 26 outbreaks of avian influenza in England. An appalling number of birds were killed – almost 40,000 pheasants and partridges. The murder of pheasants in particular has increased exponentially, from 2,098 in 2023 to almost 30,000 in 2025.
During the same period of time, 390 game farms in England claimed compensation from the government, amounting to almost £67 million. The cost of “culling” operations for this period amounted to more than £40 million. This brings the total for that time period to over £100 million – all paid for by the taxpayer.
As reported in Nation Cymru, more than £700,000 has been paid to game farms in Wales since 2021 due to outbreaks of avian flu. Although only five incidents of bird flu were recorded at game farms in Wales, the number of birds killed was far greater than England – 52,409 pheasants and partridges were “culled”.
As detailed in Animal Aid’s Killing Our Countryside report, releasing millions of pheasants into the countryside plays a role in spreading deadly avian flu, threatening wild bird populations. In September, the RSPB spoke of the “growing risk to nature” associated with the mass release of pheasants in Wales, adding that some wild bird populations, “are threatened at a national level”. News reports have also identified the terrible toll that avian flu has on swans and other wild birds, whilst vast numbers of chickens, turkeys and ducks, who are farmed for their meat, are also “culled”.
And yet, despite the appalling cost to animals’ lives, the shooting industry continues to mass produce (often in factory farm conditions) up to 60 million birds every year – simply to be used as feathered targets by the shooting industry. It is an inexcusable waste of lives and must be challenged.
Shooting is Killing Our Countryside. Take action now by writing to your MP.
