Fears for endangered Australian sea lions found nowhere else in the world as bird flu spreads to mammals
Experts are sounding the alarm about the threat of H5 bird flu to Australia’s population of endangered sea lions after the virus was confirmed in a fur seal in South Australia last week and another suspected case was announced today.
Today’s suspected case, involving a long-nosed fur seal at The Pages Conservation Park, was reported with four other suspected bird cases.
A second suspected case of H5 bird flu has been detected in a seal in Australia. Getty Images
If confirmed, it would be the second case of H5 bird flu in an Australian mammal after the virus was detected in a seal found dead at Beachport last week.
The Pages, a protected marine park that covers two small islands and a reef about 25km south-east of Cape Jervis, includes a major breeding ground for Australian sea lions which are endemic to Australia, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world.
“If the virus enters a breeding colony, there is no way to stop it spreading,” Dr Jane Younger, a senior lecturer in Southern Ocean Vertebrate Ecology at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, said.
“Australia now needs intensive surveillance of seal and sea lion colonies, rapid genome sequencing of mammal cases, and urgent investigation of whether targeted vaccination could protect the small number of populations where it is both feasible and most valuable.”
Associate Professor Bill Bateman, deputy head of the School of Molecular and Life Sciences at Curtin University, said the spread to marine mammals was “expected but horrifying”.
He said the virus could spread rapidly through sea lion populations.
“The particular worry is that, as for some bird species, low population numbers will suffer disproportionately if hit by H5 flu, leaving very few individuals to contribute to any post-virus recovery.”
South Australia has now had 194 confirmed H5 bird flu events.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt told the ABC on Monday morning the confirmed Beachport case was serious but “not unexpected”.
“We have been saying for some time we are likely to see mass mortalities of birds and mammals,” he said.
“I know that is a distressing thing for Australians to hear, but we need to be realistic.”
No H5 cases have yet been detected in poultry or livestock, and the risk to humans remains low, Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA) has reiterated.
Hundreds of cases of bird flu have been detected around the country. 9News
Environmental groups are calling for the government to establish a $200 million wildlife resilience fund to mitigate the spread of the H5 flu.
Birdlife Australia chief executive Kate Millar said yesterday’s confirmation of the virus in a mammal was “another grim milestone”.
“If a thousand dead birds detected last week in South Australia doesn’t jolt the government into taking meaningful action to support wildlife, how many will?” she said.
“More mass mortalities are on the way and we’re asking for the assurance that an appropriate level of funding for Wildlife Resilience is on its way too.”
Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough also said the $200 million in resilience funding was needed.
“We cannot stop H5 bird flu moving through wild populations, but we can give our wildlife a fighting chance by controlling feral predators, protecting critical habitat and breeding sites and taking pressure off threatened species,” he said.
“The time to build that resilience is now – not after we start counting wildlife deaths in the tens of thousands.”
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