Australia’s Biodiversity Council held a webinar at the end of August 2024, to discuss the imminent arrival of bird flu H5N1 in Australia and the threat it poses to Australian wildlife. The disease is anticipated to be brought by migratory birds arriving back here during spring (August/September – November).
This bird flu is highly pathogenic and has caused significant illness and deaths in poultry and wild birds and mammals overseas.
The bird flu’s official title is avian influenza (HPAI) strain H5N1 (clade 2.3.4.4 b). A key message from the webinar was that everyone can help prepare for the arrival of HPAI H5N1, especially with early detection and surveillance.
The Werribee River Catchment is home to several wetlands where migratory birds arrive and stay, including the internationally significant Ramsar Wetland at Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant.
The Biodiversity council has this web page which is full of information about avian flu H5N1, including:
- a recording of the webinar
- the webinar’s Q&A with links to other organisations, such as Wildlife Health Australia
- information on how you can help
- advice for wildlife carers, veterinarians, wildlife managers, local governments
- management response and options
- links for more information.
A question in the webinar’s Q&A:
What would a H5N1 bird flu outbreak look like in Australia?
A: An outbreak would result in lots of dead birds in a short time frame. The virus is going to do the same here that it’s done everywhere else. It’s going to rock up, and it’s going to cause massive, widespread deaths, with very, very large outbreaks and lots and lots of dead animals on the landscape, so it could arrive and get into a population or a location where there’s lots of water birds and potentially kill up to 60% of the birds there. There’s no way to know for sure, but if we look at what’s happened elsewhere in the world, I think catastrophic is the only thing to say.
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Photo credit: Elise Kisyma.