USDA’s bird flu strategy under fire as AWI demands reform

USA – As bird flu continues to devastate poultry farms across the United States, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) raises concerns over the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) response to the crisis. 

With egg prices soaring and the outbreak becoming the most expensive animal health crisis in the nation’s history, AWI argues that current USDA policies incentivise farms to perpetuate risky practices rather than implement meaningful preventative measures.

According to federal records, poultry producers have received US$1.25 billion in taxpayer-backed indemnity and compensation payments from February 2022 through November 2024. 

However, an AWI investigation uncovered a troubling pattern: dozens of commercial poultry operations have experienced multiple infections, killed entire flocks, received large sums in indemnity payments, and then restocked, only to repeat the cycle. 

Seventy-nine commercial operations have been infected at least twice, with 17 experiencing three outbreaks and six suffering four. South Dakota, Minnesota, California, and Iowa have reported the highest number of reinfections, with some farms in a single South Dakota county experiencing outbreaks at least four times. 

In total, 40 million birds have been killed on these repeatedly infected farms, which alone have received nearly US$337 million in federal aid.

Current strategy found inadequate 

AWI commends the USDA’s efforts to enhance biosecurity audits and explore HPAI vaccines for poultry. 

However, it criticises the agency’s failure to address critical prevention measures, particularly flock sizes and stocking densities. 

Research suggests that larger flocks housed in overcrowded conditions—sometimes exceeding 100,000 hens in a single barn—significantly raise the risk of HPAI infection and transmission. 

Yet, rather than conditioning indemnity payments on reduced flock sizes, the USDA’s policy allows producers to operate under high-risk conditions.

“While the USDA’s strategy shows some potential, it remains fundamentally misguided and a disservice to higher-welfare farmers, animals, and public health,” said Zack Strong, director of AWI’s Farmed Animal Program. 

“We would welcome an opportunity to work with the administration to ensure its approach is as effective and humane as possible”

Another key shortcoming of the USDA’s plan is its approach to biosecurity audits. The agency has pledged to expand audits for farms seeking indemnity payments, but only large commercial operations already infected or located near recent outbreaks will face in-person or virtual inspections. 

AWI argues that this policy does little to incentivise broader compliance with preventive measures and fails to reduce the risk of infections proactively.

Inhumane depopulation methods continue 

AWI is also deeply concerned about the USDA’s lack of restrictions on inhumane depopulation methods. 

The organisation has petitioned the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to require producers to submit humane euthanasia plans before receiving indemnity payments. 

The most common depopulation method currently used—ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+)—kills birds by raising barn temperatures to fatal levels, causing prolonged suffering. 

AWI estimates that by mid-January 2025, approximately 143 million birds had been culled due to bird flu, with 103 million (72%) of them killed using VSD+ (Ventilation Shutdown plus hyperthermia). 

Over half of the repeatedly infected operations relied on VSD+ and still received multimillion-dollar payments each time. 

“It is critical that the USDA end its policy of compensating producers who rely on VSD+ to slowly kill tens of millions of infected animals,” Strong said. “The department must instead incentivize more humane alternatives.”

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