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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/24/catastrophic-penguins-and-seals-at-risk-as-bird-flu-reaches-antarctic-aoe>
"Avian flu has reached the Antarctic, raising concerns for isolated populations
of penguins and seals that have never been exposed to the deadly H5N1 virus
before. The full impact of the virus’s arrival is not yet known, but scientists
are raising concerns about possible “catastrophic breeding failure” of the
region’s fragile wildlife populations.
The virus was found in populations of a scavenging bird called brown skua on
Bird Island, which is part of the British overseas territory of South Georgia
and the South Sandwich Islands. These migratory birds probably brought it with
them from South America where bird flu is widespread and has already killed an
estimated 500,000 seabirds and 20,000 sea lions in Chile and Peru alone.
The current outbreak of the highly infectious variant of H5N1 – which started
in 2021 – is estimated to have killed millions of wild birds. Researchers have
long been concerned about its potential impact on Antarctic wildlife, because
many species are found nowhere else in the world, and are not known to have
been exposed to bird flu viruses before.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) took swabs of the birds
when they found unexplained mortality and sent them for testing in the UK.
Ashley Bennison, the BAS science manager for Bird Island, said: “This is a
particularly sad event to confirm. We will continue to monitor the species on
the island as best as we can and keep the science going, but we are unsure of
the full impact at the moment.”
Bird Island is considered one of the planet’s richest wildlife sites, home to
many endangered bird species as well as 50,000 pairs of breeding penguins and
65,000 pairs of fur seals. The island lies just off the north-west tip of South
Georgia, about 600 miles south-east of the Falkland Islands.
A risk assessment on the impacts of bird flu reaching the continent, published
by Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, said fur seals, sea lions, skuas
and gulls were the most at risk, followed by penguins, birds of prey,
sheathbills and giant petrels.
Dr Meagan Dewar, the chair of the Antarctic Wildlife Health Network – who was
the lead author of the report – said that the disease could result in
“catastrophic breeding failure” in the region, with a “devastating impact on
many wildlife species”.
The report states that “ongoing disease surveillance programmes should be
established to identify new and emerging pathogens”."
Via Doug Senko.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
