<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/01/australia-wild-birds-deadly-form-of-avian-flu-influenza-hpai-subtype-h5>
"Conservationists have warned Australia is poorly prepared for the potential
arrival of a deadly form of avian influenza that has killed millions of birds
and thousands of mammals overseas.
When HPAI H5 (high pathogenicity avian influenza of subtype H5) arrived in
South America late last year it killed more than 60,000 seabirds and 3,500 sea
lions within weeks in Peru alone.
It has spread to every continent except Australia and Antarctica, and has so
far affected 300 species of wild birds and caused hundreds of mass mortality
events.
The Invasive Species Council (ISC) has written to the agriculture minister,
Murray Watt, and the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to urge them to
develop a national response plan for avian influenza in wildlife.
“Australia is well prepared to respond to avian influenza infection in poultry,
having previously eradicated it eight times, but there is no plan for
wildlife,” the ISC’s principal policy analyst, Carol Booth, said.
The council is urging the government to establish a national taskforce, with
membership including environmental and biosecurity agencies from all
governments and a range of wildlife, disease and conservation experts.
Booth said while eradication was not feasible for outbreaks in wild birds,
there were steps the government could take to minimise the impacts on wildlife
and help recovery. They included monitoring, reporting and research to assess
impacts, learn about the disease and help with recovery; regulating human
access to bird colonies to prevent disturbance; removing and disposing of dead
birds; rescuing and euthanising wildlife; vaccinating captive-bred colonies of
threatened species and developing local responses for specific bird colonies."
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
