Jimmy’s Farm cleared to reopen as bird flu outbreak ruled out

A farm attraction run by Jamie Oliver’s friend and TV co-host has been cleared to reopen, as it confirmed it does not have an outbreak of bird flu.

Jimmy’s Farm, which is run by Jimmy Doherty in Wherstead near Ipswich, Suffolk, closed on Tuesday while a suspected case among its exotic birds was looked at.

The attraction will reopen on Wednesday after it got the all clear.

It said in a statement: “We are delighted to announce that we do not have an outbreak of avian influenza.

“Our restrictions have been lifted and we are now able to reopen.

“We would like to thank our hardworking team and the swift actions taken by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency inspectors.

“We are currently one of the lucky ones but many farms and wildlife parks are facing unprecedented outbreaks.

“This is challenging the poultry industry in ways we’ve never experienced or seen before.

“We call on the Government to take urgent action to change their approach to avian influenza and save people’s livelihoods.”

The attraction said earlier on Tuesday that it had a “suspected case of avian influenza (bird flu) in our wildlife park, among our exotic birds” and that this was being investigated further.

The site was closed while staff implemented “necessary biosecurity and control measures”.

Doherty and Oliver hosted the Channel 4 cooking show Jamie And Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast together.

The Jimmy’s Farm website says the attraction has a variety of “awesome feathered friends” on site, including rheas, emus, laughing kookaburras and Indian peafowl.