Wildlife charity the RSPB has called for an immediate ban on the release of game birds and wildfowl for shooting in the UK this summer and autumn, to limit the further catastrophic spread of avian influenza (AI).
Every year around 55 million pheasants and red-legged partridges and 2.6 million mallard ducks are reared in captivity and then released into the UK countryside to be shot for sport.
But pheasants in the UK have tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) – first in Lincolnshire in 2018 and a further thirteen times since, on three premises with commercial breeding game for release.
The RSPB said it was appropriate that to limit the catastrophic impacts of AI, the deliberate release of captive birds into the countryside must be stopped for this year.
The past year has been the worst on record for avian influenza outbreaks. The release of gamebirds is already banned in avian flu control zones.