Nearly 90,000 chickens have been culled in Scotland to prevent the spread of the UK’s worst ever bird flu outbreak, The Ferret can reveal.

Scottish Government data – obtained via freedom of information law – shows that 89,113 hens were culled between 22 January and 14 October, along with hundreds of ducks, cockatiel, turkeys, geese, guinea fowl and owls. Fresh bird flu cases have emerged in recent days.

The National Farming Union of Scotland (NFUS) called on the Scottish Government to “start listening to the industry” and follow the UK Government in ruling that all poultry and captive birds be kept indoors to help stop the spread from 7 November.

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