South Australia also reported three suspected positive cases in other greater crested terns, including one inland at Monarto, suggesting the disease has begun moving away from the coast. The Monarto area is home to several poultry farms.<\/p>\n
Three silver gulls were also suspected positive, SA authorities said, adding to the first silver gull found a few days ago and confirmed positive by the CSIRO earlier on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Kate Millar, the chief executive of conservation charity BirdLife Australia, called it a \u201cvery significant escalation of the bird flu situation in Australia, and a very bleak milestone\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, we\u2019re at the beginning of a long and challenging battle and birds and wildlife are going to need all the help they can get,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jack Gough, the chief executive of the Invasive Species Council, said it now appeared the disease was \u201cstarting to take off\u201d and \u201cmirroring the experience in South America of early detections, then rapid increases in numbers and spread leading to mass mortality events in wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still at the very early stages of this devastating disease spreading, but the possible first mass mortality coming just days after the virus was declared not eradicable indicates how quickly this could escalate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Freuan said there was \u201cnothing we can do\u201d to stop the spread of the disease, but that surveillance was working.<\/p>\n
The news came at the end of a significant week in the development of the disease when numbers jumped by 20 in just a few days to the current total of 53.<\/p>\n
Australia was the last continent to have the unwelcome arrival of a disease that has killed millions of birds and mammals around the world.<\/p>\n
Victoria this week confirmed its first cases of the virulent strain in a greater crested tern found in Portland, with the state joining Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland that have all recorded positive cases.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Victorian authorities said samples from five crested terns had been sent to the CSIRO laboratory in Geelong, with preliminary testing suggesting more positive results.<\/p>\n
Five confirmed cases in birds at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island also raised concerns for the welfare of the area\u2019s Australian sea lions \u2013 an endangered species. Tens of thousands of seals have died worldwide from the disease.<\/p>\n
But it has been the cases among silver gulls that has experts like Sean Dooley, the national affairs adviser at BirdLife Australia, concerned that the spread of the virus has now reached a critical new stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people think of a seagull, they\u2019re almost always thinking of the silver gull,\u201d said Dooley.<\/p>\n
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