Wild little penguins are being vaccinated against H5N1 bird flu in Australia

Wildlife workers in Australia have launched an unprecedented vaccination drive to protect wild little penguin populations from the highly contagious H5N1 bird flu.

On Phillip Island on the east coast, hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to viewing areas and walkways every year to watch these tiny seabirds come ashore in the evening and waddle along the beach.

Known as the "penguin parade," the stars of this event are members of a wild colony living on the island.

This colony numbers up to 40 thousand birds at the peak of the breeding season, which coincides with the spring and summer in the southern hemisphere.

The habitats of little penguins, which live for about six years, are located mainly in Tasmania, southern Australia and New Zealand.

This group on Phillip Island has the distinction of being the largest single colony of little penguins in the world.

These creatures, also known as "fairy penguins", are recognized as the smallest species of semi-aquatic seabirds.

The weight of these penguins, which are only knee-high, is almost the same as a standard packet of candy.

Little penguins, like the rest of Australia's wild bird population, face the threat of H5N1, which first reached the continental mainland in June and has since spread through local wildlife.

The virus, which causes severe diseases and deaths in birds around the world, was detected in a penguin that died on Phillip Island this month. This case was recorded as the first infection in the colony.

James Todd, Chief Biodiversity Officer of the state of Victoria, where the island is located, announced that wildlife teams started vaccinating the birds in the colony within the week following this development.

"This is an unprecedented study. Vaccination on this scale has never been done in a wild population anywhere in the world," Todd said.

Stating that the H5N1 vaccination program also includes the popular little penguin group living on a breakwater in St Kilda, a coastal suburb of Melbourne, Todd pointed out that the process poses serious difficulties.

"Trying to vaccinate wild populations is almost impossible, partly because the vaccine requires two doses," Todd told the French news agency AFP.

Stating that wildlife experts know the penguin nests in Phillip Island and St Kilda very well, Todd noted that the birds are accustomed to both the floodlights during the "penguin parade" that attracts the attention of tourists and to being regularly kept by veterinarians for health monitoring.

The state official said that vaccination teams aim to vaccinate approximately 5 thousand little penguins closest to the visitor areas, and that the program is likely to extend over a period of weeks and months, not days.

Todd stated that the H5N1 vaccine should be administered in two doses, three to four weeks apart, under ideal conditions.

"Since we are in an emergency situation here, experts have said that we can even consider a period of one to two weeks," the official said, adding that no final decision has been taken on this issue yet.

Stating that vaccination teams can take the penguins from their nests and try to collect them by turning them as they land on the beach, Todd explained that microchips will be used to track the vaccinated birds.

Todd said the following about the situation on the field:

"They're wild animals; they'll squawk, they'll try to peck you, they'll react like that. But like I said, the staff there are very used to handling these animals. If you or I tried to do that, we'd probably drop the animal right away."