3 July 2023 – FOUR PAWS, the global animal welfare organisation, said the outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) that has caused the death of nine cats across Poland is “deeply worrying”.

HPAI was discovered in June in cats residing in three separate regions of Poland: Tri-City, Lublin, and Poznan, with Polish authorities now urging all cat owners to take precautions to help stop the spread of the disease.

Wendla Beyer, FOUR PAWS Policy Coordinator, said, “What we are seeing in Poland is deeply worrying. This virus needs to be taken seriously, especially as the source of these infections has yet to be identified and there are no policies in place to address the underlying problem that has caused HPAI to spiral out of control, namely factory farming.

“Following on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the largest avian influenza outbreak worldwide, with devastating effects on animals, trade and the livelihoods of farmers. Infections in mammals spark fears of viral mutations that could become transmissible between humans, igniting a new pandemic. And now, as we have seen, house cats are dying from the virus."

Commonly known as Bird Flu, HPAI, reached unprecedented geographic spread across continents and record outbreaks, with 50 million poultry culled in the epidemiologic year 2021/2022 in Europe alone.

In wild birds, avian flu is causing alarming mortality rates, threatening to wipe out endangered species. The virus killed hundreds of thousands of wild birds, including 10% of the Humboldt penguins in Chile in 2023 and 50,000 Peruvian pelicans and boobies in 2022; it is decimating breeding colonies at the time of writing.  

In 2022, European Food Safety Authority figures show rising infections among mammals, alongside 52,000 minks being killed in fur farms, and 8,117 sea lions on the Chilean coast, among other species. Despite the magnitude of outbreaks, the increased risk of mutations transmissible among humans, the loss of animal lives and economic repercussions, there are no strategies in place to address the root causes.