{"id":846411,"date":"2026-08-05T01:44:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/846411\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T01:44:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:44:21","slug":"australia-confirms-first-mass-death-of-seabirds-from-h5n1-bird-flu-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/846411\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia confirms first mass death of seabirds from H5N1 bird flu"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 2 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Australia warned on Monday against the risk of a wider spread of H5N1 bird flu after its first mass mortality episode among seabirds killed \u200cabout 50 greater crested terns off the coast south of Adelaide.<\/p>\n

However, there is no evidence yet of the virus on Australia’s farms, many of which have locked down to safeguard poultry \u200bflocks since it was first detected in \u200bJune.<\/p>\n

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said testing confirmed H5N1 bird flu in a group of 49 dead and 35 sick \u200bterns found by helicopter surveillance on rocks off Cape Jaffa, \u2060250 kilometres from \u2060Adelaide, on Friday.<\/p>\n

“Australians should expect \u200cto see more spread and larger numbers now of wildlife being affected,” she told reporters in Canberra, the capital.<\/p>\n

“This is the first confirmed case of a mass mortality,” she added. “Once the H5 \u2060bird flu is spreading in wildlife and the natural environment, it is not possible to avoid significant losses, which is what we’re starting to see now.”<\/p>\n

Australia’s \u200ctally of 74 confirmed cases is spread as wide as the states of Western Australia and Queensland, though most cases were in South Australia, Collins said.<\/p>\n

Australia and New Zealand \u2014 which saw its \u200bfirst H5N1 case last month \u2014 have spent years bracing for the virus, with steps such as \u2060tighter biosecurity at farms, testing of shore birds, vaccinating vulnerable species and \u2060war-gaming response plans.<\/p>\n

The virus has killed hundreds of millions of birds \u2060and mammals \u2060in recent years, causing \u200bbillions of dollars in losses to poultry farmers, infecting cattle in the United \u200bStates and littering beaches \u2060with corpses of birds and seals.<\/p>\n

H5N1 bird flu can infect humans who have contact with infected animals. But the number of cases worldwide is small and officials say the risk to humans is low. <\/p>\n

\"AAn veterinarian takes samples from a dead brown skua to test for the H5N1 bird flu at a wildlife hospital in Esperance, Australia, in June 2026. (Lori-Ann Shibish\/Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary\/Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84],"class_list":["post-846411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}