The Soil Association believes that there are 10 rivers in the UK heading in the same direction as the River Wye because of chicken production.

Rivers in at least seven counties are at risk of becoming wildlife-depleted "dead zones" if new factory chicken farms aren't banned, says a recent report from the Soil Association.

The report unveils the industry has expanded at a rate of one million birds per month since 2014, producing over a billion birds per year, with high levels of phosphate pollution causing damaging algal blooms and is a cause of 'dead zones' in the River Wye.

Soil Association's Rob Percival said: "Few people realise that industrial chicken production might be the most ethically bankrupt and environmentally destructive business in the UK."

He continued: "If we don’t act now to put the brakes on industrial production, we’ll see more of our rivers becoming dead zones and facing the same desperate fate as the River Wye. If it can happen in such a protected area, it can happen anywhere."

A petition demanding a UK-wide ban on such poultry units has been launched.