Game: Birds

(asked on 9th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to avian influenza, what steps he has taken to ensure gamebird breeders (a) register captive gamebird flocks and (b) comply with all other relevant aspects of legislation.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 17th February 2021

Defra encourages all keepers to register their birds with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and keep contact details up to date, so APHA can contact them quickly if there is a disease outbreak in their area and they need to take action.

If keepers have more than 50 birds, they are legally required to register their flock within one month of their arrival at their premises. If the keeper has less than 50 birds, including pet birds, they are still strongly encouraged to register.

Mandatory requirements to register kept gamebirds can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/poultry-including-game-birds-registration-rules-and-forms.

The public can register with the APHA alerts service to receive email and text alerts for exotic notifiable diseases, which includes Avian influenza (AI).

AI is a notifiable animal disease. If a bird keeper or the public suspect any type of AI in poultry or captive birds they must report it immediately by calling the Defra Rural Services Helpline. Failure to do so is an offence and enforced by local authorities.

An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) has been declared across the whole of England. The AIPZ means all bird keepers in England (whether they have pet birds, captive gamebirds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock) are required by law to take a range of biosecurity precautions including from the 14 December 2020 keeping their birds indoors except in very specific circumstances.

Further details of the measures that apply in the AIPZ including biosecurity guidance and housing measures can be found on GOV.UK.

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