{"id":576903,"date":"2025-11-17T21:01:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T21:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/576903\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T21:01:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T21:01:24","slug":"spain-restricts-outdoor-chicken-breeding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/576903\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain restricts outdoor chicken breeding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Alimat Aliyeva<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since November 13, Spain has prohibited the outdoor breeding of<br \/>\nchickens \u2014 a measure introduced by the Ministry of Agriculture as<br \/>\npart of new efforts to combat the spread of avian influenza amid a<br \/>\nrise in cases across Europe, <strong>Azernews<\/strong> reports.<\/p>\n<p>The ban applies nationwide, including to organic farms and<br \/>\nsmall-scale holdings for personal consumption.<\/p>\n<p>According to 20minutos, Spain lies on a major migratory route<br \/>\nused by birds traveling from Northern Europe to Africa for the<br \/>\nwinter. These wild species can carry the virus and transmit it to<br \/>\ndomestic birds through direct contact. Once avian influenza enters<br \/>\na poultry farm, the spread accelerates due to close confinement and<br \/>\nexposure to contaminated secretions. Free-range chickens are<br \/>\nparticularly vulnerable, as they are more likely to encounter<br \/>\ninfected wild birds.<\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organization has documented 103 human cases of<br \/>\nthe virus between 2020 and January 2025, though no instances of<br \/>\nhuman-to-human transmission have been reported. Spain detected two<br \/>\nhuman cases between 2020 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the public health concerns, outbreaks also pose<br \/>\nsignificant economic and animal welfare challenges. Since July 18,<br \/>\n2025, Spain has lost its bird flu\u2013free status, preventing the<br \/>\nexport of poultry products. Under EU regulations and national<br \/>\nprotocols, every outbreak results in the suspension of all farm<br \/>\noperations, the culling of all poultry, and the destruction of<br \/>\nfeed, water, and other potentially contaminated materials.<\/p>\n<p>Agricultural experts warn that prolonged restrictions on<br \/>\nfree-range farming could reshape Spain\u2019s poultry industry, pushing<br \/>\nproducers to adopt more biosecure indoor systems. Some fear this<br \/>\nmay also influence consumer preferences, especially in a country<br \/>\nwhere demand for organic and free-range products has been steadily<br \/>\nrising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Alimat Aliyeva Since November 13, Spain has prohibited the outdoor breeding of chickens \u2014 a measure introduced&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[12619,7503,12622,7502,1500,3085,12621,1700,2000,299,12620,5387,285,12618,104,461,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-576903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-analytics","9":"tag-azerbaijan","10":"tag-azernews","11":"tag-baku","12":"tag-breaking-news","13":"tag-business-news","14":"tag-company-news","15":"tag-economy","16":"tag-eu","17":"tag-europe","18":"tag-financial-news","19":"tag-oil-and-gas-news","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-socar","22":"tag-spain","23":"tag-turkey","24":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115567059499639576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}