First mammal case of bird flu found, an expected but dreaded advance

A long-nosed fur seal has been announced as the first confirmed death of a mammal by the deadly bird flu virus that is now spreading through Australia, a development in the progression of the virus long expected but dreaded by scientists.

The fur seal, one of 11 detections announced by the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, was found dead with no signs of injury at Beachport in South Australia by a member of the public on Wednesday, but the H5 bird flu detection was not confirmed until further tests were conducted.

Since the initial detection of the virus in wild migratory birds in Western Australia in June, the virus has been identified in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania, where a mass death of penguins on King Island has been attributed to bird flu.

Bird flu killed around 75 per cent of seal pups on the Australia’s subantarctic Heard Island and McDonald Islands during the last breeding season.