Bird Flu: The Next Pandemic
The current outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu strain H5N1 is decimating populations of birds and countless mammals. It has reached every continent and is one mutation away from spreading among humans.
Avian and swine influenza viruses have caused all influenza pandemics since 1918, killing millions of people.
What Is Bird Flu?
Bird flu, also known as avian flu, is a type of influenza that spreads among birds and one of numerous diseases caused by keeping animals for food. The H5N1 strain of bird flu – the outbreak of which we are now seeing around the world – originated in farmed geese before infecting chickens raised for their flesh and eggs.
Can Bird Flu Kill Humans?
Yes, it can. Between 2003 and 2024, bird flu killed hundreds of people around the globe. The 1918 influenza pandemic, also known as the Spanish flu, was one of the most severe pandemics in history. It was caused by an H1N1 influenza A virus with genes of avian origin and killed 50 million people. The most deadly of the bird flu strains are H5N1 – the strain causing the current outbreak, which is present in the UK – and H7N9. About half of those infected with H5N1 died from it.
In January 2025, a man in Louisiana, US, died after contracting H5N1 through contact with birds. The senior citizen is reported to have had underlying medical conditions, and the virus is believed to have mutated to a more serious form inside the patient.
Lukas Vincour / Zvířata Nejíme / We Animals
Will It Be the Next Pandemic?
It’s looking increasingly likely! Experts believe it’s only a matter of time before a strain of bird flu causes a widespread human outbreak. Dr Connor Bamford, an assistant professor in virology from Queen’s University Belfast, called the human population a “major open space for the virus”.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu is already a devastating pandemic for countless species, and a strain circulating in cows in the US in 2024 was found to be one mutation away from spreading among humans.
Of the 66 confirmed human cases in the US, more are now attributed to the spread in the dairy industry than from birds, demonstrating the changing nature of the disease. Two people didn’t contract it from birds or cows, and the cause of the spread is unknown.
Already a Devastating Pandemic for Other Animals
Bird flu has killed millions of wild birds worldwide, including tens of thousands from 78 wild bird species in the UK. Seabirds, waterfowl, and birds of prey are most affected, including barnacle geese, swans, peregrine falcons, hen harriers, buzzards, white-tailed eagles, golden eagles, gannets, roseate terns, black-headed gulls, guillemots, kittiwakes, and herring gulls. Three-quarters of the UK’s pairs of great skua, a protected species whose main population lives in the UK, have been killed off.
At least half a billion birds on farms have also been killed due to the H5 strain of avian influenza and its variants since the strain was first identified. H5N1 is especially deadly for chickens – their heads swell, they struggle to breathe, and they experience extreme diarrhoea. But it is not only a devastating pandemic for birds.
An estimated 17,000 southern elephant seal pups died in Argentina – equivalent to 96% of all pups born in the country in 2023. This amounts to the loss of nearly an entire generation of seals. Various other species of seal and sea lion, porpoises, dolphins, foxes, otters, fishers, minks, skunks, raccoons, possoms, bobcats, coyotes, South American bush dogs, cats, bobcats, pigs, mice, guinea pigs, grizzly bears, and even a polar bear have contracted avian flu.
Over 919 herds of cows in the dairy industry across the US have been affected. The numbers of individual cows who have been killed or died because of the virus are not reported.
Crystal Heath, DVM / We Animals
Evidence that bird flu can now affect horses without causing any symptoms has led to fears that humans are more likely to contract the disease and that it may mutate in horses into a more dangerous variant.
The risk posed by bird flu could not be more real or more dire.
How Do You Catch Bird Flu?
It is relatively easy to contract bird flu if you come into contact with infected animals or their body parts or bodily fluids, including feathers, flesh, faeces, and milk.
People who bring chicken flesh, eggs, and dairy into their homes may be putting themselves and their families at risk. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, the virus can be caught by eating undercooked meat or eggs, raw milk, or food prepared on the same cutting board as an infected substance, as well as by touching eggshells contaminated with the disease.
Breeding Grounds for Disease
Most chickens raised for their flesh are crammed into sheds with up to 50,000 other birds, where they never get to see daylight or breathe fresh air. In such conditions, they languish amid their own waste alongside dead and dying birds, making these factory farms a breeding ground for disease.
Outbreaks of diseases like bird flu lead to the mass killing of animals on farms (before they are to be slaughtered for their flesh). By October 2023, the latest outbreak had led to the killing of over 250 million birds on farms globally – and the numbers continue to rise, with several farms in East Yorkshire and Norfolk reporting cases in December 2024 and killing all birds on site.
In previous outbreaks, more than 22 million birds were killed and dumped in South Korea in the winter of 2016, and over 100 million more were killed in the 2000s and 2010s.
But none of these birds should have been bred and confined in the first place.
Chickens Deserve Better
Chickens are curious, intelligent animals who love to play and will run, jump, and sunbathe when given the chance. They establish complex social structures, can remember 100 different chicken’s faces, and are protective of their young.
These characterful birds originate from the rainforest, and wild chickens in their natural habitat lay only 10 to 15 eggs a year during the breeding season and are likely to survive 90% of attacks by predators.
They don’t deserve to be confined, mutilated, and genetically manipulated to lay more eggs and grow faster than their bodies can handle. Yet billions of them spend their entire lives in cramped sheds with less floor space than an A4 piece of paper before being violently slaughtered for their flesh.
Leave Dead Birds Off Your Plate – the World Depends on It
Humans’ appetite for animal flesh will be the death of us. But we could prevent another pandemic by not confining and killing birds for their flesh. Eating vegan spares birds a life of suffering and a violent death and can lower your impact on the planet and improve your health. You’ll also be one less person contributing to the next pandemic.
Want big flavour with zero cruelty? 10 out of 10 chickens agree.
Replace cholesterol-filled chickens’ eggs with options that are good for your heart and health:
Check out these recipes that use chickpeas instead of chickens.
It’s time to go vegan. What are you waiting for? We’re ready to help you make the switch – take our vegan pledge and we’ll provide you with meal plans, recipes, and tips on eating balanced vegan meals, choosing vegan clothing and cruelty-free cosmetics, and showing compassion for animals in all aspects of your life.
