FOUR PAWS South Africa on Avian Influenza Surges
Mass killings are mere symptom control
Cape Town, 12 November 2025 – South Africa is still facing the devastating consequences of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), with outbreaks affecting both poultry, including ostriches, and wild birds, including the critically endangered African Penguin. In 2017, the first case of HPAI was confirmed in commercial chickens in South Africa, prompting urgent biosecurity measures and conservation responses. After several subsequent outbreaks, most recently, a new H5N1 outbreak was detected in South Africa on 23 June 2025.
The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) has confirmed over 1,000 suspected cases in wild seabirds, with confirmed infections in African Penguins, Hartlaub’s Gulls, Great White Pelicans, and other species. The outbreak poses a serious threat to biodiversity, echoing the global crisis unfolding in regions such as the United States, Japan, and Europe.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s poultry sector remains on high alert to prevent further financial losses following the mass culling of tens of millions of birds., Despite improved biosecurity measures, outbreaks persist. In June 2025, the Department of Agriculture issued the first poultry vaccination permit as a measure to minimise the risk of HPAI outbreaks, the efficacy of which is still to be seen.
Data indicates that the intensification of farming since 1940 has been linked to more than half of all zoonotic diseases in humans. FOUR PAWS calls for a transition to smaller farms with higher welfare standards and the end of fur farming, to reduce disease risks and animal suffering. While biosecurity, movement control, and vaccination are important tools, they do not address the root causes. The organisation urges the South African government to ratify and implement the Pandemic Agreement, which embraces the One Health approach, recognising the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health.
FOUR PAWS continues to advocate for preventive, systemic change and encourages the public to report sick or dead birds to local authorities and rehabilitation centres such as SANCCOB, while avoiding direct contact.
For more information, visit our website four-paws.org.za
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FOUR PAWS is the global animal welfare organisation for animals under direct human influence, which reveals suffering, rescues animals in need and protects them. Founded in 1988 in Vienna by Heli Dungler and friends, the organisation advocates for a world where humans treat animals with respect, empathy and understanding. The sustainable campaigns and projects of FOUR PAWS focus on companion animals including stray dogs and cats, farm animals and wild animals – such as bears, big cats and orangutans – kept in inappropriate conditions as well as in disaster and conflict zones. With offices in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, the UK, the USA and Vietnam as well as sanctuaries for rescued animals in eleven countries, FOUR PAWS provides rapid help and long-term solutions. www.four-paws.org.za