{"id":864173,"date":"2026-08-22T08:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/864173\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T08:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:38:17","slug":"little-penguin-on-king-island-tests-positive-for-bird-flu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/864173\/","title":{"rendered":"Little penguin on King Island tests positive for bird flu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tasmania has recorded another positive bird flu case, with a little penguin collected from Grassy on King Island testing positive overnight.<\/p>\n

A second little penguin returned an inconclusive result, with both samples sent to the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness for further testing.<\/p>\n

It comes after 23 more dead penguins were found on King Island on Friday, bringing the total to 51.<\/p>\n

Incident Controller Wes Ford said the penguin deaths were not considered a mass mortality event.<\/p>\n

\"\"A little penguin collected from Grassy on King Island tested positive. Image \/ Pulse (File)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe condition of the remaining deceased birds meant they were unsuitable for testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, the cause of death could not be confirmed, although it may be assumed to have been from bird flu.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Incident Controller Wes Ford said the deaths were not a mass mortality event. Image \/ Pulse (File)<\/p>\n

Ford said more staff had been deployed to increase surveillance, monitoring and collection activities in the area.<\/p>\n

Community information sessions were held on King Island on Friday, giving residents, local government representatives and media the chance to hear from department staff about surveillance and management efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community\u2019s role remains critical in helping us understand and respond to the spread of bird flu,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Information signs about bird flu have been installed at key locations across King Island.<\/p>\n

\"\"A total of 51 dead penguins have now been found on King Island. Image \/ File<\/p>\n

Ford reiterated there is still no evidence of a mass mortality event and no detection in Tasmanian poultry.<\/p>\n

He said reporting of individual bird numbers would shift from daily to twice weekly, given the increasing number of birds being collected and sampled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will ensure ongoing community awareness but enable the incident team to focus on its surveillance, response and testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The latest case brings the total number of confirmed positive detections across Tasmania to 20 birds since August 12.<\/p>\n

\"\"Community information sessions were held on King Island on Friday. Image \/ Pulse (File)<\/p>\n

Cases have been recorded at locations including Currie and Grassy on King Island, Rocky Cape, Burnie and Sulphur Creek, across species including crested terns, silver gulls, a white fronted tern, a brown skua and now a little penguin.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health has said the risk of H5 bird flu to people in Tasmania is low, but anyone who spots sick or dead wildlife should call the Emergency Animal Disease hotline on 1800 675 888.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tasmania has recorded another positive bird flu case, with a little penguin collected from Grassy on King Island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-864173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864173","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=864173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}