Bird flu surveillance ramped up on coastline
Authorities insist there is no bird flu crisis and there is no need to panic, despite a growing number of birds along Australia’s coastline testing positive for the deadly virus.
In NSW, poultry farms have been asked to house their birds indoors after the first confirmed case of H5N1 was discovered in a bird on the state’s Mid North Coast.
Agriculture minister Tara Moriarty appealed for calm on Sunday.
“I want to emphasize that this has only been found once; we have a bird that tested positive,” Ms Moriarty told reporters.
“There is no crisis, there is no need to panic.”
Consumers are also asked to continue purchasing poultry and eggs as normal.
The deadly strain has been confirmed in a migratory bird in NSW, making it the sixth case confirmed in Australia, following five other cases discovered in Western Australia and SA.
Another suspected case was detected in a migratory bird in Perth’s northern suburb of Mullaloo on Friday and further testing is being carried out. The species was first spotted on mainland Australia on 14 June in a brown skua at Esperance on WA’s south coast.
NSW’s chief veterinary officer, Jo Coombe, said thousands of department staff, including 500 specially trained officers, had been deployed to support surveillance along the coastline.
“The reality is that we have a wild bird that has tested positive for H5N1 bird flu,” he said Sunday.
“We know the bird is a bird that doesn’t usually land in Australia and… it landed in Australia because it was sick.”
Invasive Species Council policy director Carol Booth warned that surveillance would not protect Australian wildlife if the disease reached native species.
He called on the federal government to fund a $200 million resilience package to accelerate control of wild predators, restore habitat and protect breeding grounds.
‘This killer disease is destroying millions of birds worldwide. The impact it could have on Australia’s native birds and marine mammals as it continues to spread is frightening, Dr Booth told AAP.
Until June, Australia was the only continent free of the highly contagious virus that has wiped out millions of birds worldwide and is also killing mammals.
The public is asked to avoid contact with sick or dead wild animals, report findings to the emergency hotline, record locations and take photographs.
