Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleMadrid faces a bird flu surge with hundreds of storks dead. Authorities assure no human risk and implement biosecurity measures.
MADRID, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Spanish authorities have detected four outbreaks of bird flu in wild birds in the central Madrid region, where forestry agents collected hundreds of dead storks over the past several weeks including more than a hundred in the past 24 hours.
The outbreaks are part of an unprecedented surge in bird flu cases across Europe this season, with thousands of wild bird cases reported in 29 countries, according to the European Food Safety Authority.
Madrid's regional government said in a statement that no commercial poultry farms have been affected so far and there was no serious risk to humans.
"The authorities are removing carcasses using strict biosecurity measures to prevent further spread of the virus," it said. The storks, migratory birds arriving from northern Europe, are thought to be carrying the virus.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of farmed birds globally in recent years, disrupting food supplies and increasing prices. Human cases remain rare.
"Based on how the outbreak is behaving in Spain and across Europe, there is no serious risk to human health, as no cases of transmission to people have been recorded," Miguel Higueras Ortega, head of forestry operations in Madrid, told Reuters.
He added the outbreaks did not appear to pose an environmental threat for now.
(Reporting by Jesus Calero, editing by Andrei Khalip and Alex Richardson)
Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a viral infection that primarily affects birds but can also infect humans. It can lead to severe respiratory illness and has caused outbreaks in poultry, impacting food supply and prices.
Biosecurity measures are practices designed to prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms, including viruses. In agriculture, these measures protect livestock and crops from diseases and pests.
Migratory birds are species that travel from one region to another, often seasonally, to breed or find food. They play a crucial role in ecosystems and can carry diseases like bird flu.
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