Highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks require mass culling of poultry flocks, causing large-scale welfare harm; prevention through better biosecurity and housing reform is a priority.
Culling during HPAI outbreaks causes mass mortality welfare events. Gas and foam culling methods, when properly applied, can cause rapid unconsciousness, but implementation quality varies. Birds culled as part of preventive measures — before showing clinical signs — die from human intervention rather than disease. Birds dying from HPAI itself experience neurological and respiratory symptoms. The scale of recent outbreaks — tens of millions of birds per year — means the aggregate welfare harm is enormous regardless of culling method.