Authorities try to protect Australia's vulnerable wildlife as H5N1 bird flu approaches

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

Karl Hillyard is a busy man.
As the South Australian Department for the Environment and Water's bird flu preparedness coordinator, he has been working with colleagues across the country and the world to prepare for the arrival of the H5N1 bird flu in Australia.
The flu has had a devastating effect on birds and wildlife across much of the world, but has not yet reached Australia or New Zealand.
However, it has been identified in most of the seal species in Antarctica.
Dr Hillyard said he had a soft spot for the common and sometimes maligned ibis, but much of his work at the Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills was for the protection of rare birds.
He said planning could be difficult when dealing with an evolving situation which had affected "mind-boggling" numbers of water birds and marine mammals.
"Overseas in wildlife, there are some really tragic stories and impacts on particularly vulnerable and threatened species," Dr Hillyard said.
A trial has started in the US to see if a vaccine against the flu has been effective in protecting the rare California condor.
Research has also been carried out by the CSIRO to see if the vaccine could be used in small Australian bird species.
Meanwhile, the first line of defence at Cleland will be social distancing of a sort, by making sure captive birds at the park are kept separate from wild birds as much as possible.
Dr Hillyard said the "tyranny of distance" had protected Australia so far.
"Effectively, sick birds, sick animals are going to struggle to make it here," he said.
"And that's really sad.
"But it's also what's probably been helping us out so far in Australia."
He said work was also being done to assess where the virus might first arrive in South Australia.
Wayne Boardman, from the University of Adelaide, said the virus had taken a circuitous route around the world since emerging in China in 1996.
He said more wild bird and mammal deaths became apparent in Europe after a 2020 mutation which had spread to Africa and then North and South America.
Dr Boardman said the virus would "almost certainly" arrive in Australia at some stage, potentially via islands in the sub-Antarctic or by migratory birds coming through the shorebird flyways from China and Southeast Asia.
Dr Boardman said the virus had already caused a devastating loss of Peruvian pelicans and sandwich terns in Europe, and had occurred in more than 500 species of birds and more than 60 species of mammals.
"We hope that these species will recover in time, but it could be that the virus is going to circulate for some time and will continue to cause mortality over the next five, 10, 15 years," he said.
Dr Boardman said there were concerns that the disease could affect endangered species to the point where recovery would take a long time or could even lead to extinction.
One of Dr Boardman's biggest concerns was for the remaining Australian sea lion population, which numbered less than 14,000 and lived mainly around South Australia's coastline.
Dr Boardman's concern for the sealions is shared by Independent Member of the Legislative Council, Tammy Franks.
Ms Franks has called for the state government to co-fund a field research station in the Coorong, where many thousands of migratory birds arrived each year.
She said a 2024 outbreak of avian cholera in the wetland was only able to be confirmed because a fisherman delivered fresh carcasses to biosecurity officers within hours of the birds' death, when useful test samples could still be extracted.
She said without the ability to sample and test on the ground in the Coorong, the opportunity to identify the arrival of avian flu could be missed.
Coorong Environment Trust Board member Faith Coleman said a suitable property for a laboratory facility was available at Woods Well, on the banks of the south lagoon.
She estimated the total cost of purchasing and establishing the facility would be about $1 million.
"They [the state government] would only need to contribute a portion," she said.
"It would be really helpful if they could meet us halfway."
The Minister for the Environment and Water has been contacted for a response.