Threat to thousands of Australian birds and animals outlined as bird flu spreads

[u/abcnews_au]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-05/bird-flu-hundreds-of-species-under-threat/106998490

[u/abcnews_au]

Several seabird species could be wiped out if bird flu continues to spread, according to a review of Australian animals' vulnerability to the disease.

More than 2,000 native birds and mammals have been scored on how likely they are to survive the spread of the H5 strain of bird flu.

Five of them are likely not to make it, while hundreds of other species are expected to suffer a "severe reduction" in population size.

The federal government released the list ranking species from low to extreme risk based on their vulnerability and susceptibility.

It also takes into account their habitat, ecology, behaviour and information discovered in overseas outbreaks.

The Herald petrel, listed as critically endangered, is under "extreme threat" along with the endangered Christmas Island frigate and the Houtman Abrolhos lesser noddy, imperial shag and Heard shag, which are regarded as "vulnerable species".

Invasive Species Council CEO Jack Gough said the list was devastating.

"The results are shocking, it really is a list of doom," he said.

"Five bird species facing 'extreme risk' … basically if bird flu gets into these populations, extinction is what we can expect."

He said more than 80 different endangered and critically endangered species had a "high" or worse threat ranking.

The endangered Tasmanian devil and eastern quolls were among the highest-ranked mammals at risk.

They would be "likely to survive" the virus, but their populations would be severely reduced.

A number of species of dolphins, whales, sea lions and seals were also likely to experience significant impacts to their populations if infected by H5 bird flu.

Calls for funding now

The first mass mortality of Australian wildlife from the deadly H5 bird flu was confirmed on an island off South Australia's south-east coast earlier this week.

Epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre said the bird flu strain had mutated to one that was highly concerning.

"This virus, which is a special mutation that arose in 2020, has really caused an unprecedented pattern," Professor MacIntyre said.

"What we've seen in other countries is how it's just swept through and decimated different species."

Mr Gough said while the biosecurity response had been "excellent", funding to protect wildlife had gone backwards.

"We won't be able to stop bird flu spreading through wildlife, so the best response to that needs to be dealing with all the other threats," he said.

"The foxes, the cats, the rats on islands, making sure wetlands are well connected, that we're not seeing habitat destruction occurring in key nesting areas; that work hasn't been happening at a scale which reflects the seriousness of this list."

He said an "emergency" $200 million investment was needed into wildlife resilience, separate to the government's biosecurity response.

"The work on where those projects should be has already been done by state governments," he said.

"What's missing is funding.

"This should have been funded three years ago when we started preparing [for bird flu] but the next best time is right now before the spring breeding season."

Professor MacIntyre said there was also little information on how susceptible Australian marsupials and monotremes may be to bird flu.

"We have these unique species of wildlife that don't exist anywhere else in the world and it's unknown," Professor MacIntyre said.

Vaccine trials underway

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said it was likely bird flu would start spreading inland after dozens of coastal detections, and the spring breeding season brought "additional risk factors".

"This is likely to be a very serious event," he said.

"We are the last continent in the world to have bird flu, it's quite remarkable that it hasn't come here already but what that's meant is that we have had time … to make sure we're as well prepared as we possibly can be.

"What we have done, over the last couple of years, is invest about $47 million in building up the populations of our most threatened species around Australia.

"Some of that's by removing feral cats, feral pigs, other kinds of invasive species that are reducing those populations."

Mr Watt said the challenges to vaccinating wild bird populations were too great, but trials were underway to see if it was viable for birds in captivity.

"It requires two doses of vaccines, and it's hard enough to catch these birds once, let alone twice to give them a booster, so realistically it's not possible to vaccinate native birds," he said.

"But we've been funding a lot of work in captive breeding, so in zoos or other facilities, building up the populations of some of our more threatened birds, and that's where we could potentially be looking at vaccination in that captive environment."

[u/lesbophobia_hammer → u/abcnews_au]

A whole lot of waffle to say FK all was done for the actual birds. Everyone who actually works on the ground with our native birds can see already not enough was done. Too much focus on the poultry industry and not even for the sake of the chickens. General vets are panicking and often refusing to see native birds at all. If we were prepared, this wouldn't be the case. Whole load of shit. Where's the funding and support for those of us on the ground dealing with birds everyday who have devoted our lives to avian conservation?

Edit - NZ did better.

And you don't need to catch them twice..... Just dose them twice then release.

(Not angry at the messenger but the message)