A dolphin has died from H5 bird flu in South Australia, marking the second native mammal species known to have contracted the virus. It comes as the federal government announced it would withdraw researchers from the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island research station due to the “psychosocial risk” of witnessing potential mass seal deaths from H5N1 during the upcoming seal breeding season. The common dolphin was found recently deceased near Goolwa on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.
State tests confirmed the animal was positive for H5N1, with samples sent to the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness for further analysis. It follows two earlier detections in long-nosed fur seals in SA at Beachport and the Pages Islands and a case in a red fox – a feral pest species – near Port Adelaide. The federal government’s risk assessment rated common dolphins at high risk from bird flu, meaning they potentially face severe population declines where the virus takes hold.
While bird flu had not yet been detected on the island, it was home to large elephant seal populations close to station buildings. Expert assessments had predicted “a high likelihood of a significant mortality event during the upcoming breeding season”. The department’s deputy secretary, Sean Sullivan, said: “This is an unusual measure, but is the most appropriate course of action, based on our assessments of risk, and operational realities.
While the risk to humans of H5 bird flu is considered low, we can’t ignore the psychosocial risks of living near potentially large numbers of affected animals.” Sullivan said the researchers lived and worked in one of the world’s most remote and challenging environments. Sullivan said the decision had been made to minimise the risks to researchers and “across the whole Antarctic program” in advance of any mass mortality event. He said Macquarie Island was unique in that thousands of elephant seal pups were born close to the station every spring.
Sullivan said the government was exploring options for monitoring the situation on Macquarie Island, with a view to “returning expeditioners to the station in coming seasons”. The SA government said on Friday it would move to confirming H5 bird flu cases in the state through local laboratories. Until now, state-based test results have required verification by the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong.
The state government said improvements to its testing processes meant confirmation of H5N1 cases could now be done locally. The New South Wales government also announced its plans to vaccinate wild populations of little penguins at Manly and Barunguba Montague Island. The government also said “trial cohorts” of some captive bird populations, including little penguins, Carnaby’s black cockatoos and red-tailed black cockatoos, had received the first vaccinations at Taronga zoo this week.
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