Bird flu pandemic warning as taxpayers shell out £42m to compensate farmers

Exclusive: Activists blame factory farming for UK’s worst outbreak as owners paid average of £165,000 each

Taxpayers shelled out nearly £42m to compensate farmers for bird flu last year as the disease tore through flocks in the UK’s worst-ever outbreak.

The payouts, which represented a 15-fold rise from the year before, were revealed after the World Health Organisation warned that the world must prepare for a potential human bird flu pandemic.

The H5N1 virus has jumped from birds to mammals, scientists say, after cases were found in otters, mink, foxes and seals believed to have eaten infected birds.