{"id":488844,"date":"2026-06-21T19:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488844\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T19:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:53:14","slug":"bird-flu-is-finally-in-australia-what-does-that-mean-for-us-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488844\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird flu is finally in Australia. What does that mean for us?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Australia confirms the deadly H5 strain of bird flu has finally reached its shores, the virus is now in Oceania: closer to New Zealand than ever before.<\/p>\n

What does that mean for us – a country dependent on primary industries, and world famous for its bird life?<\/p>\n

The highly contagious virus has swept across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, devastating wild bird populations, poultry flocks, and mammal species.<\/p>\n

It causes sudden death in birds without prior symptoms, and can spread rapidly, killing entire flocks within days.<\/p>\n

It can be passed between cattle, and there are concerns that livestock such as cows and pigs could act as \u201cmixing vessels\u201d to evolve strains that could ultimately infect humans.<\/p>\n

An outbreak could disrupt our primary industries as authorities work to contain its spread, with likely knock-on effects for poultry, dairy and meat exports.<\/p>\n

Distinguished Professor Nigel French told the Herald the discovery in Australia was expected, given the virus\u2019 rapid global spread, and New Zealand is now \u201csurrounded by potential risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

Our native wildlife has little natural immunity to the virus, leaving some of the country\u2019s rarest birds especially vulnerable, French said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the populations are down to just tens of birds … if it were to get into those populations, it could result in them becoming extinct.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a real concern, particularly for the taonga species,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Distinguished
Distinguished Professor Nigel French said strong surveillance will be key to detecting the virus and slowing the spread. Photo \/ Massey University<\/p>\n

The Department of Conservation has been developing vaccines for some of New Zealand\u2019s most endangered birds, but French said vaccination is only practical for captive breeding programmes – with wild populations too difficult to catch.<\/p>\n

He said strong surveillance will be key to detecting the virus early.<\/p>\n

\u2018It takes all of us\u2019<\/p>\n

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard said New Zealand\u2019s geographical isolation had bought valuable time to prepare.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the H5N1 strain of bird flu started spreading around the world, New Zealand\u2019s geographical isolation has protected us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry for Primary Industries, the Department of Conservation, the Ministry of Health, and Health New Zealand have been working together with industry and local councils to get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoggard said bird flu cannot be eradicated once it has spread.<\/p>\n

\"Biosecurity
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says everyone has a part to play in protecting New Zealand’s wildlife. Photo \/ RNZ, Mark Papalii<\/p>\n

The risk to humans remains low and the Ministry of Health has prepared a plan for a potential bird flu pandemic.<\/p>\n

Anyone who notices groups of three or more sick birds or seals is advised to call the exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 80 99 66.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Australia confirms the deadly H5 strain of bird flu has finally reached its shores, the virus is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[245163,134,5962,111,139,69,1518],"class_list":["post-488844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-birdflu","tag-health","tag-humans","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}