Consultation on proposed registration requirements for all bird keepers in Great Britain

We are seeking your views on our plans to make it compulsory for all poultry [1] and other captive bird [2] keepers [3] to register their bird(s) with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). It is currently mandatory for a person who is a keeper of 50 or more poultry at any single premises to register their birds on the Great Britain Poultry Register by providing specified information on the birds. The information on the poultry register is important in the prevention and control of notifiable avian disease outbreaks (such as Newcastle Disease and avian influenza). Avian influenza (also known as bird flu) is a highly contagious viral disease that affects both domestic and wild birds. The information on the register is used to: communicate with keepers when there is a heightened risk of bird flu incursion and during bird flu and Newcastle disease outbreaks, on measures they need to take to protect the health of their birds, and to prevent dis