<
https://gizmodo.com/australia-confirms-its-first-known-bird-flu-death-in-a-dolphin-2000804742>
"Australia spent decades blissfully free from highly pathogenic H5 strains of
bird flu, which have spread chaos (and occasionally killed human beings) across
the world’s more interconnected continents. That is until this June, when five
migratory seabirds, including three vulture-like giant petrels, tested positive
for H5N1 along the Commonwealth nation’s southwestern coast.
And now those birds are spreading avian influenza to Aussie mammals, infecting
a red fox in an Adelaide suburb, killing a seal in Beachport, and—in a historic
first down under—fatally infecting a dolphin, whose carcass was discovered in
the port city of Goolwa just south of Adelaide. But marine conservation
scientist Mike Bossley, once Greenpeace Australia’s first director, told the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that what most troubled him was the
speed with which this dolphin had contracted and died of the disease.
“To have one here so soon is very shocking for me and very worrying,” Bossley
told ABC, adding that many dolphins’ feeding patterns can leave them especially
vulnerable to bird flu.
“They follow the birds around because the birds can see the fish better than
they can, from the air,” Bossley explained."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Pandemic Roundup: September 3, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/pandemic-roundup-168473011
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
