H5N1 Detected in Australia, 400 Species at High Risk
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- H5N1 bird flu was detected in Australia two months ago in migratory seabirds that likely brought the disease from subantarctic breeding grounds, with the first native mass mortality event hitting greater crested terns on South Australia's Limestone Coast.
- The Australian federal government's wildlife risk analysis found almost 400 species of birds and mammals face "high risk" or worse if they contract H5N1, with Prof John Woinarski of Charles Darwin University expecting the disease to spread across the continent within a year.
- All three Australian pinniped species — the New Zealand fur seal, Australian fur seal, and already endangered Australian sea lion — face "very high" risk, meaning "very severe reduction in population size or viability is predicted" if the virus reaches them.
- The 2.3.4.4b lineage of H5N1 has killed millions of birds and mammals and infected more than 400 bird species globally since re-emerging in Europe in 2021, with the virus already detected on Australia's subantarctic Heard and McDonald islands.
- Argentinian marine biologist Dr Saia Bartes reports north Patagonia lost a third of its sea lion population after H5N1 struck, a warning sign given pinnipeds' tight social grouping and overlap with infected birds.
- Deakin University's Dr Sara Ryding's risk modelling identifies gannets and boobies (Sulidae) as Australia's most at-risk bird family, followed by cranes, darters, ducks/geese/swans, and gulls/terns/noddies.
Why it matters: Almost half of Australia's bird species are endemic, meaning H5N1 could push birds found nowhere else on Earth toward extinction now that every continent harbors the virus. The government's own analysis flags all three resident pinniped species — including the already endangered Australian sea lion — for predicted severe population decline. South America lost a third of its Patagonian sea lions, and Australia has no prior experience managing this lineage.
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