{"id":633170,"date":"2026-10-17T05:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T05:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/633170\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T05:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T05:52:11","slug":"deadly-bird-flu-reaches-remote-australian-wildlife-sanctuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/633170\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly bird flu reaches remote Australian wildlife sanctuary"},"content":{"rendered":"

A deadly strain of bird flu has reached one of Australia\u2019s<\/a> most remote wildlife havens, home to threatened and endangered species.<\/p>\n

The H5 strain was confirmed in a southern elephant seal and a kelp gull on Macquarie Island, marking the island\u2019s first recorded outbreak.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Three elephant seals at Macquarie Island station.\u00a0Greg Stone<\/p>\n

The World Heritage-listed island sits in the Southern Ocean between Tasmania<\/a> and Antarctica and is home to colonies of penguins, seals and seabirds year-round.<\/p>\n

Macquarie Island has been protected as a wildlife sanctuary since 1933 and was granted World Heritage status in 1997.<\/p>\n

Despite the detection, Australian Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Beth Cookson said that the overall threat level hasn\u2019t escalated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is currently no evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission associated with H5 bird flu in Australia and the risk to human health remains low,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere remain no detections in Australian poultry or in our agricultural production system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The discovery follows the detection of H5 bird flu in wild birds in Tasmania<\/a> earlier this year, raising concerns about its potential toll on native wildlife.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Macquarie Island is home to several threatened and endangered species of plants, birds, and marine mammals.\u00a0Greg Stone<\/p>\n

Bird flu is a highly contagious viral disease primarily affecting birds, but it can also infect other animals, including seals and species that scavenge infected wildlife.<\/p>\n

Some birds can carry the virus without appearing sick, while infected birds and other animals can become severely ill and die.<\/p>\n

Wild bird movements mean authorities cannot stop the virus from spreading among wildlife, and outbreaks can kill large numbers of birds and mammals.<\/p>\n

Tasmanian Environment Minister Guy Barnett said reports of sick and dead wildlife would help authorities identify and respond to potential cases.<\/p>\n

Cookson urged anyone who comes across an animal they think may be infected to keep their distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you notice sick or dead birds or other animals, do not touch them or get too close,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake photos if safe to do so, note your location and report it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sightings can be reported to the 24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A deadly strain of bird flu has reached one of Australia\u2019s most remote wildlife havens, home to threatened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-633170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633170","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=633170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}