Mandatory bird housing imposed in Ireland after bird flu outbreak

DUBLIN (Reuters) -Ireland on Wednesday imposed a mandatory country-wide housing order for poultry and captive birds, effective from November. 10, following the first outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu on a farm in the country since 2022.

A swift seasonal upturn in Europe of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has raised concerns among governments and the poultry industry after it ravaged flocks around the world in recent years, disrupting supply, fuelling higher food prices and raising the risk of human transmission.

The H5N1 virus was detected in a turkey flock with 3,240 birds in the eastern town of Carlow, causing the death of 3,130 of them, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Wednesday, citing a report from Irish authorities.

The virus has been circulating widely in wild birds across Ireland for the past year, Ireland's agriculture department said, including 12 cases at a popular wildlife park in County Cork that has been forced to close until the end of November.

Over 40 wild birds have tested positive for avian flu so far this year, the department said in a statement.

Neighbouring Britain has also imposed a compulsory housing order for birds covering the whole of England that is due to kick in on Thursday, in a bid to slow the spread there. Other European countries took similar decisions last month.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris, editing by Gus Trompiz, Alexandra Hudson)