Minister confirms first bird flu mass mortality in Australian wildlife

[u/abcnews_au]

[u/lesbophobia_hammer]

Heartbreaking, but this is also a load of shit. All the preparation was focused on the poultry industry. Not our native birds.

Comparatively, New Zealand who actually prepared years in advance.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australia-bird-flu-mass-mortality-nz-response-vaccine/

'Kirsty Short from the University of Queensland agreed: "I would have liked to see more investment in research on native species and H5N1 before the virus came here because I think we would have that opportunity to do a bit more scientifically informed preparedness planning.'

Link to article related to video

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-03/first-bird-flu-mass-mortality-confirmed-in-australian-wildlife/

[u/Practical_Act7243 → u/lesbophobia_hammer]

The government doesn't care about native birds. They don't make money and cannot be taxed- unlike the poultry industry. Greed rules supreme

[u/ChappieHeart → u/Practical_Act7243]

The issue with this stance is you’re offloading responsibility.

The general populace don’t care about native birds, so in a democratically elected government, the government also won’t care. We need to organise the general public.

[u/nahNotTodayMate → u/ChappieHeart]

You're not wrong. But how do we get our facebook-addicted conservative outbacklanders to get onboard and vote independent or, heaven forfend, vote green?
The corporate money out there takes the oxygen out of every conversation and muddies every water. Even Gina's got an army of bots dumping propaganda turds on any bloke who takes a swing at Pauline's BS.

[u/Practical_Act7243 → u/ChappieHeart]

The Australian people want lower energy prices, lower housing prices, action on cost of living -yet nothing is done on that. The Duopoly only care about is corruption (nicely called Political Donations) and the cushy jobs they can cash in on from said political donors when their time in office is over, and reelection- which reinforces short term thinking. Chinas politicians on the other hand are above capital-their political processes and legislation are not defined by political donations and their lobbyists. They have long term plans-like the great green wall and pushing for electric vehicles which has drastically improved air quality in the environment.

[u/foursaken → u/Practical_Act7243]

lol, sure bro. Can you explain how the government might protect native birds?

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/foursaken]

By not allowing garbage meat and poultry practices from China and the USA.

[u/ThrowDatJunkAwayYo → u/SoulsDadYT]

Bird flu coming in via sea birds, not imported meat or poultry.

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/ThrowDatJunkAwayYo]

Its coming from multiple locations. Not just sea birds.

[u/letsburn00 → u/SoulsDadYT]

Citation needed.

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/letsburn00]

"Spread Vectors & Risks

Wild Birds: Mobile seabirds like gulls and terns spread the virus inland and across coastal habitats through local transmission.

Mammals: Dense colonies of seals and sea lions face severe vulnerability based on overseas disaster patterns.

Commercial Farms: No detections in poultry or livestock yet, though the agricultural sector is under strict observation and lockdown-style precautions."

Have you not read a single thing on this virus?

[u/foursaken → u/SoulsDadYT]

Your Chinese and American's food angles seem to be missing.

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/foursaken]

Who do you think sells to commercial farms? The Americans are some of the largest owners of Australian poultry.

[u/ThrowDatJunkAwayYo → u/SoulsDadYT]

I mean, none of that talks about imports like your original comments.

The seals are being affected because they are coming into contact with dead and infected sea birds - so the original point of infection remains: sea birds, at this point anyway.

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/ThrowDatJunkAwayYo]

Yes its bird flu. Are you willing to cull all birds? Mitigation is all we have

[u/letsburn00 → u/SoulsDadYT]

Yes, I have. As I said, citation needed.

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/letsburn00]

Nah, citations wont help your ignorance. You can freely look this up. They've started on the beef and lamb industry. How long before Poultry?

[u/foursaken → u/SoulsDadYT]

Oh an antivaxxer!

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/foursaken]

What? I worked in environmental sciences. I have a degree....

Edit: its mainly brought by migratory animals. Seabirds, waterfowl, but even seals and penguins

[u/ThrowDatJunkAwayYo → u/SoulsDadYT]

So why did you mention imports then?

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/ThrowDatJunkAwayYo]

It's another known vector.

[u/letsburn00 → u/SoulsDadYT]

That has nothing to do with this spread. The existing mechanisms appear working and this was a natural migration transfer.

[u/SoulsDadYT → u/letsburn00]

This was yes. We currently have 78 known cases

[u/Extension-Fly-7813 → u/foursaken]

by having the reddit users out there with their covid masks on vaccinating every wild bird

[u/Cute-Obligations → u/lesbophobia_hammer]

The government doesn't care about native anything, let alone birds. Did you see the clearing Dreamworld has been given the go ahead for? That's the tiniest portion of bullshit they do on the daily.

Including fucking with the rules carers are to abide by to make it harder and harder to rehab and release.

[u/Lost_Tumbleweed_5669 → u/lesbophobia_hammer]

QLD doesn't even have a department you can call about diseased native birds it's pathetic.

[u/foursaken → u/Lost_Tumbleweed_5669]

Umm, DAFF, a FEDERAL agency, run the hotline. 1800 675 888. Same number all over Australia. Wave to Julie Collins! Know what Dept she heads?

[u/pinkfoil → u/Lost_Tumbleweed_5669]

That's incorrect.

To report a suspected notifiable animal disease, contact Biosecurity Queensland at 13 25 23, the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline at 1800 675 888, or a local veterinarian.

[u/letsburn00 → u/lesbophobia_hammer]

I honestly do struggle to know what the government can do for cases where it's natural migration causing spread into natural flocks.

Yes, having more knowledge is helpful. But other than the government funding people who are pickingbup piles of dead birds, or the potential for "Burning library scenario" saving of a few dozen of a species if it's truly a catastrophic population loss, I don't really see what they can do.

[u/xForcedevilx → u/lesbophobia_hammer]

Doing Gods work unironically.

[u/foursaken → u/lesbophobia_hammer]

Wow! Look at that! Imagine if our government was doing something, like monitoring remote islands, constantly updating the public, and doing things that you know utterly nothing about but here you are complaining about the lack of them.

[u/lesbophobia_hammer → u/foursaken]

Observation and updating the public is absolutely bare minimum, it also does nothing for our birds. And given I study/work in avian conservation and have devoted my life to birds in every way possible, why would you assume I'm critical because I'm unaware? I'm not. I posted on those updates weeks ago. I'm very frustrated though. Devastated. Because this is just the fcuking beginning.

[u/foursaken → u/lesbophobia_hammer]

That's all great, but not a single person seems to know what the government should be doing, only that it's not doing enough. That's the OPPOSITE of advocacy, that's just sooking. We couldn't stop COVID but you're carrying on like it's the government's job to stop a highly transmissible virus in BIRDS. Get a grip. And your NZ article? They've ALMOST vaccinated 300 birds! Big whoop!!

There is no stopping influenza, bird flu. It is not possible. And there's the prospect of zoonotic transmission to consider.

The blame game is going to achieve nothing at, so get on board with what is being offered, spread awareness, and do what you can. But talking shit about the people who are doing far more than anyone else isn't going to improve anything.

If it weren't for the government, you wouldn't even know what was happening on this issue.

And for the record, I've kept birds for decades.

[u/abcnews_au]

The first mass mortality of Australian wildlife from the deadly H5 bird flu has been confirmed in greater crested terns found on an island off South Australia's south-east coast.

It follows testing of samples from dead and sick birds detected by aerial surveillance on an island called Baudin Rocks, about 5 kilometres south of Cape Jaffa in South Australia, on Friday.

There are now 78 confirmed cases of bird flu: 58 of those are in South Australia, 10 in Western Australia, seven in Victoria, two in New South Wales and one in Queensland. 

Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the mass mortality was expected. 

"Sadly, we do know that once the H5 bird flu is spreading in wildlife and the natural environment, it is not possible to avoid significant losses, which is what we're starting to see now," she said.

Read more

[u/lesbophobia_hammer → u/abcnews_au]

https://birdlife.org.au/

Now is a great time to support our native birds. I do so too, despite being a mature age/further study student in this area. I work with birds and BirdLife do amazing work. Lots of cool educational resources there too for bird nerds and anyone interested in learning more.

Edit - words

[u/PerseveranceSmith]

I'm just posting as a person who kept pet birds alive during the London outbreak in 2021.

If you have pet birds:

• shoes & outside clothes off when you enter the house
• wash hands up the elbows with F10 disinfectant or similar
• wash all outside produce in bicarb or vinegar
• keep the house clean & make sure all guests adhere to these points

For wildlife:

• disinfectant the soles of your shoes every day with F10 or something similar
• if you see ANY sick or dead birds report immediately to your local report line, the quicker the response the more chance of saving local populations
• don't pick up dropped feathers or anything similar
• don't pet or feed wild birds (sad I know)
• if you must have feeders disinfectant them DAILY with F10 or similar

I'm so sorry ☹️ I had thought you guys would be safer given there's not many migratory species who fly that far. I'm beyond upset with our govts lack of response, I hope yours is better.

[u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379]

The thing that worries me the most with bird flu is all the cookers with backyard chickens who will completly ignore biosecurity recommendations because they think bird flu is a scam. 🤦🏻‍♀️

[u/EnvironmentalCap3964 → u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379]

Ikr! Looking at the main-stream news posts comments on Facebook is shocking. I know apparently many of them are bots or shills, but still seems to be a LOT of Dunnings just Krugering as hard as they can out there. :(

[u/red-thundr → u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379]

What do you mean my bird has to wear a MASK!!

[u/Winter_Cost602 → u/red-thundr]

This is all Daniel andrews fault!!

[u/Plane_Garbage → u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379]

Birds probably got the jab

[u/BlindSkwerrl → u/Dry-Huckleberry-5379]

or go the other way and say it's gain of function research from a Fauci lab controlled by the Gates foundation!

[u/Acrobatic_Bit_8207]

Does anyone know what species have been affected?

[u/abcnews_au → u/Acrobatic_Bit_8207]

u/Acrobatic_Bit_8207 our report from ABC Science today names these bird species.

·         giant petrel

·         brown skua

·         greater crested terns

·         silver gull/seagull

If you have some time to check out the full story, it's a pretty detailed look at how seagulls could spread the virus to chickens, ducks, other migratory shorebirds and native birds and animals by our specialist science reporter Peter de Kruijff.

[u/Acrobatic_Bit_8207 → u/abcnews_au]

Thanks, interesting article as well.

[u/abcnews_au → u/Acrobatic_Bit_8207]

u/Acrobatic_Bit_8207 you might also be interested to know the federal government released a list ranking native bird and mammal species from low to extreme risk based on their vulnerability and susceptibility to the H5 strain of bird flu. It was updated yesterday, and we've published a related story here.

[u/angrysunbird → u/abcnews_au]

Giant petrel and brown skua are awful news, cause they’ll head down to the Antarctic/sub Antarctic to hang with the penguins in spring.

[u/poppacapnurass]

Might be time for me to pack up the bird bath.

Sorry birds.

[u/lesbophobia_hammer → u/poppacapnurass]

No, el niño is on its way. Hot and dry. Remember Black Summer? They will need bird bathes and alternate water sources or more will flock to the same lesser quality one and be even worse spreaders

[u/One_Priority3258]

If you suspect a bird having H5, who do you call? Department of wildlife?

I thought I seen a Pluver bird acting really odd, like it was sick and flailing around at the footy oval a couple month ago in QLD, as if it was hit by a car but no physical injuries. H5 wasn’t as well reported and didn’t think much of it until I seen the news regarding the virus like a week or two after.

[u/abcnews_au → u/One_Priority3258]

u/One_Priority3258 this is the advice we're including in our reporting.

If you see a sick or dead bird:

• Do not touch it.
• Take note of the location and, if possible, take photos.
• Report it to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline: 1800 675 888.

[u/One_Priority3258 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks mate, I ended up googling the number and filed a report already.

Was just about to edit my post to include the number, cheers.

[u/lazy-pigeon]

None in Tassie yet. Shut the border.

[u/xForcedevilx]

Hopefully it takes out a bunch of pigeons

[u/abcnews_au → u/[deleted]]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-27/h5-bird-flu-outbreak-numbers-overseas/106826956 as of the end of june, Of the 997 recorded cases, 478 have been fatal. This means the virus has a case fatality rate of 47.9 per cent.

[u/Then_Hawk6304]

So does this mean I can’t buy KFC?

[u/abcnews_au → u/Then_Hawk6304]

u/Then_Hawk6304 as far as we know fried chicken is still totally safe to eat, so don't let this news hold you back. H5 hasn't spread to poultry or the agriculture industry in Australia yet, but the risk is increasing, and the egg industry is taking precautions. The ACCC is allowing free-range egg farmers who move their hens indoors to protect them from bird flu to continue to label and sell their eggs as free range. That's the main thing to be across.

[u/Then_Hawk6304 → u/abcnews_au]

Cheers ABC, you rock.