An emergency hotline to report dead or sick birds and wildlife has received almost 100 reports since the deadly H5 bird flu strain was detected in Australia.<\/p>\n
WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis confirmed 94 reports have been made to the Western Australian emergency animal disease hotline and 11 required further investigation and testing.<\/p>\n
Authorities collected samples from two wild seabirds including a cormorant in the Perth metro area and a giant petrel further north in Geraldton.<\/p>\n
Preliminary results will be made public when available.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been no reports of large-scale mortalities at this stage,\u201d Ms Jarvis said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no evidence the virus has spread, but we have asked the community to remain alert and follow advice about reporting sick or dead birds or marine mammals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Jarvis said it was not unusual for migratory sea birds to be found along the Western Australia coastline at this time of year.<\/p>\n
She said at the moment two individual migratory birds tested positive, and while there was no evidence they interacted with local wildlife, testing of birds in the Esperance area would continue.<\/p>\n
The response would likely be escalated if results show the virus has spread into wildlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chief veterinary officer will continue to monitor the results,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of this national surveillance is about proving that the disease has not spread, that is as important as no evidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would remind people that they should avoid contact with any injured bird they see, they should record what they see, and they should call the emergency animal disease hotline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two dead sub-Antarctic seabirds that washed up along the South Australian coastline are being tested for H5 avian virus.<\/p>\n
Fowlers Bay tourism operator Rod Keogh found the birds and immediately made a report to authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am super vigilant on the beach to see if there is a bird. It might not be anything but this is super important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially if it is a pelagic bird, it is something we have to do. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf another animal turned around and ate it, that\u2019s how spread starts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Keogh said Nuyts Archipelago and the Norwich Reef were about 37km off the coastline and were home to the largest population of Australian sea lions.<\/p>\n
He reported the birds to the South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions and had a call back from a local ranger within 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
The birds were collected and taken for sampling that night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is super important that we need to report this because it is our first line of defence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fowlers Bay is a remote town on the South Australian coast, about 1283km east of Esperance in Western Australia, where two seabirds tested positive to the deadly H5 bird flu.<\/p>\n
A sub-Antarctic Skua was rescued from a beach and taken to the Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary, showing signs of bird flu last week.<\/p>\n
A sick southern giant petrel also found in Esperance has been confirmed positive for H5 avian influenza by Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development Diagnostic Laboratory Services.<\/p>\n
It was the first time the deadly virus was detected on Australia\u2019s mainland after it was found in several wildlife species on a sub-Antarctic Australian territory, prompting warnings from authorities that Australia must prepare for potential outbreaks.<\/p>\n
In February, the disease was found in animals living on Heard Island, an extremely remote territory located more than 4000km southwest of Perth and 1700km north of Antarctica.<\/p>\n
Avian influenza primarily affect birds but can infect mammals too, posing a threat to marine mammals and livestock industries.<\/p>\n
Premier Peter Malinauskas told media it was still unknown if birds that migrated to South Australia carried the H5 avian virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something we\u2019ve known is a risk and we\u2019ve been able to account and plan for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A Department of Primary Industries and Regions spokesman said while there were no confirmed cases of H5 bird flu in SA, the government would examine any reports of sick or dead birds and other wildlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cSample testing occurs at PIRSA\u2019s testing lab at Glenside. As with every other Australian state and territory, all samples that provide an initial indication of H5 bird flu are sent to CSIRO for confirmatory testing,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are able to respond to reports of sick or dead birds and other wildlife anywhere in the state, and have bolstered surveillance operations that we have been undertaking over recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n
PIRSA are conducting surveillance in many areas along the west and far west coasts, Coorong, Fleurieu, Kangaroo Island, Limestone Coast, Far North and offshore islands.<\/p>\n
Conservation and National Park sites \u2014 including Seal Bay Conservation Park, Coorong National Park, Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary and the Adelaide International Dolphin Sanctuary \u2014 are also being monitored.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will notify the public in the event of a positive detection of H5 bird flu in SA,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An emergency hotline to report dead or sick birds and wildlife has received almost 100 reports since the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,187436,128,338],"class_list":["post-755037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-newswire-news","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}