Welsh Government pays out more than £700k to firms that culled birds bred for shooting when they caught bird flu

Martin Shipton

The Welsh Government has paid out compensation totalling more than £700,000 since 2021 to game farms whose birds have been “culled” because they have bird flu, animal welfare groups have established.

Animal Aid, which is running a campaign on the issue, argues it is wrong that public money should be spent compensating companies that breed birds to be shot for a day’s entertainment.

Between 2020 and 2025, there were five outbreaks of bird flu on game farms in Wales, with as many as 52,409 pheasants and partridges culled.

The number of birds culled in Wales is far greater than in England, despite fewer outbreaks – the largest number occurred as a result of just one outbreak in 2023.

Five game farms in Wales received compensation.

An FOI request submitted by the League Against Cruel Sports in July 2025 received the response that a total of £702,981.88 was paid out in compensation

According to the response to an FOI from Animal Aid in 2023, there was only one farm in Wales that had an outbreak of AI. According to the FOI response received by the League Against Cruel Sports, in 2023, the compensation paid out to game farms was £551,095.24.

Fiona Pereira, the campaign manager for Animal Aid, said: “As far as I can deduce, Bettws Hall game farm in Powys – the largest in the country – had an outbreak of bird flu in 2023, which may indicate that they were the sole recipient of the compensation probably due to the vast number of birds who were culled there (£551,095.24).

“We submitted an FOI about Bettws Hall’s avian flu outbreak in 2023 – the methods of killing the birds were horrific:”The culling operation was performed using containerised gassing units and where required some birds were individually humanely culled on welfare grounds by trained APHA (Animal and Plant Agency) staff.”

According to Defra: “Capacity for carbon dioxide (CO2) based WHG (Whole House Gassing) has increased significantly, and it is currently the method of choice where it can be effectively and quickly deployed.”. However, depending on the gas used, gassing can cause huge distress to birds – making them gasp for air, wing flap, attempt to escape etc.

Ms Pereira said: “We submitted these FOIs as they relate to our Killing Our Countryside anti-shooting campaign (which launched in May this year) and the many harms done to the countryside by the massive release of pheasants and partridges every year. Page 21-22 of the Killing Our Countryside report deal with the avian flu risk to wild birds from captive reared pheasants.

“In fact, for the last few years where avian flu has been a real concern, RSPB has called for a cessation of the release of birds for shooting – their Welsh office highlighted the risks again in September.

“The UK Government recently updated its guidelines for released game birds, and in August, it stated “The recent increase in avian influenza causes in game birds an increasing risk of avian influenza, particularly in coastal counties.”

‘Suffering’

Ms Pereira said: “It is the government’s responsibility to prevent the occurrence and spread of bird flu. And yet, every year we see the same avian flu crisis which is devastating wild bird populations and causing suffering on a massive scale.

“In addition to the birds who are dying of the virus, captive-bred birds who become infected face being killed with ‘containerised gassing’ which causes unimaginable distress to those who are left gasping for air and trying to escape.

“And then we have the shooting industry which breeds and releases up to 60 million pheasants and partridges – all to be shot for a day’s entertainment. We know that outbreaks of avian flu on game farms result in millions of pounds of ‘compensation’ paid for by taxpayers. Why should people who are struggling financially be required to prop up the wealthy and cruel bloodsports industry?

“The shooting industry is killing our countryside. It’s time for the government to stand up to them.”