Highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks require stringent biosecurity and sometimes mass culling that creates acute welfare challenges, while prevention measures can also constrain poultry welfare.
Avian influenza creates welfare dilemmas that pit disease prevention against welfare quality. Housing orders that confine free-range poultry indoors during outbreak periods prevent exposure but significantly reduce welfare by removing outdoor access, foraging opportunities and natural light. The longer confinement continues, the greater the welfare cost and the greater the risk of consumer certification concerns for free-range products. Emergency culling methods — carbon dioxide gassing, foam — cause acute welfare impacts when implemented at scale under time pressure. Vaccination offers a way out of this dilemma: vaccinated birds can maintain outdoor access with reduced outbreak risk. The welfare case for poultry vaccination against HPAI is strong and becoming harder to resist as outbreaks intensify.