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‘Looming catastrophe’ virus warning for Australian wildlife

There are fears that the expected arrival of a virulent bird flu strain from overseas could have a devastating impact on Australian wildlife, including endangered sea lions on Kangaroo Island.

Oct 01, 2024, updated Oct 01, 2024
Australian sea lions on Kangaroo Island. Photo: Louise M Cooper/University of Sydney/AAP

Australian sea lions on Kangaroo Island. Photo: Louise M Cooper/University of Sydney/AAP

Dr Fiona Fraser, the Threatened Species Commissioner within the federal Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water Department, has painted a confronting picture about what the nation can expect when the virus that’s devastated wildlife overseas arrives.

She says there’ll be no avoiding mass deaths from H5 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza, which could arrive any day with migratory birds from the north and the south.

The consequences could be grave for imperilled species including endangered Australian sea lions and Tasmanian devils.

Dr Fraser told The Australian newspaper a range of response measures were being looked at, including targeted vaccination programs and the early removal of infected bird carcasses, to slow transmission.

The Invasive Species Council has long been calling for more funds to get response systems in place for a virus that Dr Fraser is certain will arrive, including safeguards for critical wildlife populations.

Bird flu doesn’t just affect birds, although the virus has taken a devastating toll on avian species worldwide.

The Invasive Species Council said in July that the bird flu strain had caused “unprecedented” deaths since arriving in South America in 2022.

It said the virus had claimed more than 30,000 sea lions and 17,000 elephant seals and cited a 95 per cent death rate among elephant seal pups in a region of Argentina in 2023, up from only 1 per cent the year before.

The council said at least 650,000 native birds had also died, along with an unknown number of dolphins, porpoises and otters.

“The consequences of this aggressive bird flu strain are alarming with extraordinarily high rates of mortality causing crashes in the populations of many different species,” council member and Charles Darwin University Professor of wildlife conservation John Woinarski said.

“Australia has been lucky to date, but we can’t presume this will continue. I fear the impact on many of our native animal species. Some species may not survive such rapid and dramatic losses.”

There are local warnings that black swans are particularly susceptible to the virus and could be hit hard, with some experts fearing “mass death” among some species.

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Invasive Species Council campaigner Jack Gough says Australia’s preparations so far have been woefully underfunded and inadequate, given the scale of the threat.

He says most of a $7 million package announced earlier this year by federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins was about surveillance and limiting impacts to poultry producers, with the amount set aside for wildlife “pitiful”.

“It’s like throwing small change at a looming catastrophe which if it turns up, Australians are going to rightly see as negligence,” Gough said.

He said locations overseas have reported benefits from carcass removal but he was yet to see any plans for high-risk sites like Kangaroo Island – the most important colony for endangered Australian sea lions.

Gough said people inside government had made clear to him there was no money to do anything meaningful for wildlife.

“Senior departmental bureaucrats from agencies across the country, not just the Commonwealth, having been making clear to us that their ambition when it comes to saving wildlife is limited by the fact they don’t have money,” he said.

“And they are worried that any money they do allocate to this will just come from other environmental priorities.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said on the weekend planning was underway for a bird flu meeting involving environment ministers from around Australia.

Plibersek did not answer AAP’s questions about when and where the meeting would be held but said it would be soon.

The government’s bird flu response has been led by the federal agriculture department.

Preparations so far have included a war-games style exercise that involved various agencies and stakeholders testing their hypothetical response to the arrival of the virus.

– with AAP

Topics: bird flu
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