H5N1 Bird Flu Detected in Western Australia for First Time]

Brown skuas and giant petrels are common sights offshore in southern Australian waters during winter months, but they rarely venture onto land.

When two of these birds were discovered sick on beaches a few kilometers apart along Western Australia’s southern coastline, scientists feared it signaled a serious threat to wildlife.

Tests confirmed the giant petrel had contracted the H5N1 strain of avian influenza on Monday, two days after the skua case was confirmed. Both birds have since died.

The virus has killed millions of birds and mammals worldwide since 2021, but Australia was the only continent H5N1 had not yet reached.

Governments and wildlife experts are now anxiously awaiting whether these cases mark the beginning of a larger outbreak, fearing devastating consequences for Australian wildlife and industry.

Australian authorities received nearly 60 reports of sick and dead birds in Western Australia over the weekend.

Dr Beth Cookson, Australia’s chief veterinary officer, stated there is no evidence the infections have spread to other birds, though the cases have placed experts and agencies on high alert.

Experts noted that while the disease first emerged in the northern hemisphere, its arrival in Australia would likely affect the northern coastline first. However, an Antarctic origin was always a possibility.

“Biosecurity had our eyes on the northern hemisphere,” said Dr Lauren Roman, a seabird researcher at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies.

“We had been warned about the arrival of migratory shorebirds and seabirds and that the virus could come in with them.”

Roman noted that for over two years, agencies and scientists across Australia have conducted ongoing surveillance, with all tests returning negative until now.

Giant petrels and brown skuas both breed in Antarctica during summer but migrate north for winter, foraging in Australia’s southern waters.

Both species scavenge for food, which researchers believe may have facilitated the virus’s spread across Antarctica and how these two birds became infected.

“Skuas have been implicated in the spread [of the disease]but it’s not inherently their fault,” said Simon Gorta, a researcher and ecologist at the University of New South Wales’ Centre for Ecosystem Science.

“It’s a virus that has spread around the world and seabirds are already highly threatened so this is bad news for them too.”

More than 13,000 seal pups died from the disease between October last year and January, alongside penguins and petrels, Australian scientists revealed last week.

“There’s potential that there could be other birds coming up – other species and other individuals – that could come in to our shores because they are sick,” said Dale Wright, acting director of conservation science at BirdLife Australia.

These pelagic bird species sleep and forage at sea, rarely coming ashore unless sick or finding something like a whale carcass to feed on.

If a sick bird dies ashore, it could be scavenged by other birds including gulls, potentially spreading the disease to new populations and making eradication impossible.

Anyone finding sick or dead birds or marine mammals is advised to avoid contact, not handle the animals, and instead photograph or videotape them before calling the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.

Source link