First Deadly H5 Bird Flu Case in Local Wildlife Recorded in South Australia

The first case of deadly H5 bird flu in local wildlife has been recorded in a bird found on the South Australian coast.

The federal agriculture minister, Julie Collins, said on Friday that a greater crested tern – a common coastal bird – had tested positive for the disease. The bird was found at Robe on SA’s Limestone Coast.

“While this, of course, is a concerning development, it is not unexpected and is another sign that our strong biosecurity system is working,” Collins said.

Until Friday, cases of bird flu had been detected in migratory subantarctic seabirds, mostly giant petrels, found on the coasts of SA, Western Australia and New South Wales.

Collins said the South Australian government was leading the response to the discovery of the greater crested tern by conducting extra surveillance to help establish whether there had been further spread in local wildlife.

“What we do know is that this is a coastal seabird that has an overlapping coastal range with migratory seabirds that have previously tested positive for H5,” she said.

Earlier this week, the SA government said it had completed the largest aerial survey of the state’s coastline, islands and reefs in 40 years and found “no widespread evidence of sick or dead seabirds or seals”.