Experts don\u2019t yet know how black swans will respond to living with a virus that, once established, is expected to circulate and evolve in wild bird populations.<\/p>\n
\u2018Potential\u2019 to lose entire populations<\/p>\n
Black swans live in both coastal and inland freshwater areas and can form large colonies when breeding. An infected bird could cause an entire colony to die out, the ornithologist Floyd Holmes from Phoenix Environmental Sciences says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not likely to wipe out all of the swans, but for any local groups of swans, particularly in the south-west, that all congregate and breed in a single place, the potential to just lose that entire population all at once is definitely there,\u201d Holmes says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be pretty devastating for that local area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n South Australia, where the virus was first reported, has already reported three mass mortality events<\/a> involving more than 1,000 greater crested terns. Holmes says the public is also more likely to notice the impacts on black swans because the birds are so large and distinctive.<\/p>\n Nine weeks after a migratory bird brought H5N1 to WA shores \u2013 and five years after this variant of the virus reached North America \u2013 the WA government says it is now testing the vaccine in five endangered black cockatoos at Perth zoo.<\/p>\n \u201cThe feasibility of vaccination in black swans is being explored,\u201d the WA environment minister, Matthew Swinbourn, says. \u201cThis is just one tool in the fight against the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n For the Noongar people, the black swan is called Maarli or Kuljak and carries a totemic significance that predates its adoption as a state symbol. Photograph: Benny Marty\/Alamy<\/p>\n The federal agriculture minister, Julie Collins, says the government has spent $113m on bird flu preparedness, including purchasing $2m worth of vaccine to protect captive populations of priority species.<\/p>\n The vaccine is produced by US animal health company Zoetis and was originally designed for use in chickens. It is not registered for use in wildlife and would need to be assessed before its use can be extended to native birds, Swinbourn says.<\/p>\n Collins was tight-lipped about the strength of evidence that the vaccine will work in native species.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vaccination rollout led by states and territories has commenced and will continue across the country in the coming weeks and months,\u201d a ministerial spokesperson says.<\/p>\n
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