02 August 2025, Western Cape Department of Agriculture
The Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) wishes to alert poultry farmers and the general public to new outbreaks of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI), commonly referred to as “bird flu”.
Recent outbreaks have been confirmed in chickens in North West and Mpumalanga provinces, with one poultry outbreak in the Western Cape – detected in farmed ducks near Paarl in early July. The affected ducks and associated chickens were humanely culled voluntarily to prevent further spread.
In addition, HPAI has been responsible for mortalities in Great White Pelicans near Malmesbury and Hartlaub’s Gulls in the Cape Town area. These are the first wild bird cases reported in the Western Cape since April 2024 and the first mass mortalities since 2022.
