H5 Bird Flu Kills More Terns in South Australia and Victoria as Mass Deaths Spread
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 6
H5 Bird Flu Kills More Terns in South Australia and Victoria as Mass Deaths Spread
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 6
Summary
South Australia’s Limestone Coast has shifted from isolated H5 detections to near-daily reports of sick and dead birds, with Baudin Rocks recording the first confirmed mass mortality event.
Victoria is now seeing the same pattern: aerial and ground surveillance near Portland and Nelson found a clear increase in dead terns after last week’s first H5 cases.
Greater crested terns account for many cases, and officials say their mixing with gulls, ducks, grebes, cormorants and other terns raises the risk of wider transmission.
Wildlife clinics already at capacity say stricter protective gear, cleaning and quarantine rules are straining care, while carcasses left in the environment may infect scavengers and other wildlife.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt called the outbreak the start of a long, difficult period for wildlife, with threatened shorebirds and vulnerable marine mammals such as sea lions and fur seals under close watch.