Tests underway following discovery of two more dead birds near WA border after H5 bird flu cases confirmed

Two more dead birds found just across the WA border are currently being tested for H5N1 bird flu.

The birds — a white-headed petrel and a soft-plumaged petrel — were found washed ashore at Fowlers Bay on South Australia’s west coast according to BirdLife Australia’s senior adviser Sean Dooley.

“Discovered on the opposite side of the Bight to Western Australia were two dead seabirds,” Mr Dooley told The West Australian.

“Both of those seabirds are Southern Ocean seabirds that move around the circumpolar Southern Ocean following the winds, and they do tend to come up closer to Australia in the winter.

“Both of those species breed on Crozet Island, which is north of Heard Island, and there had been bird flu outbreaks there in recent months and the last year or so.”

Mr Dooley said it’s not unusual for seabirds to be blown in or land exhausted, and then die if they’re not taken into care.

“So the fact that there are birds on the beach doesn’t necessarily mean it is bird flu, but given that bird flu is present on Crozet Island and Heard Island, and we have two positive cases, it’s really important that we take caution and treat any dead seabird that comes ashore as a potential victim of H5N1 bird flu,” he said.

Mr Dooley said he is trying to stay positive rather than jump to conclusions despite the destructive nature of the virus.

“BirdLife Australia has been extremely worried about this for about four years now, and we’ve been working to try and make sure we’re as best prepared as possible because if there’s an outbreak, it could well be devastating for many Australian native birds,” he said.

“At the moment, though, I’d be exercising a degree of caution in jumping to conclusions because lots of things kill seabirds and we don’t know yet whether bird flu is involved.”

It follows recent confirmation of Australia’s first H5 bird flu cases in two migratory subantarctic birds found on a beach near Esperance.

Both Esperance and Fowlers Bay sit along the Great Australian Bight coastline, although they are separated by the South Australia-Western Australia border.

Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said on Monday there was no evidence of mass mortalities in wildlife, with the Australian poultry and agricultural systems also remaining free from bird flu for now.

WA Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn also downplayed fears of immediate widespread transmission.

“Those two birds were found some way apart from each other and they were both Antarctic or sub-Antarctic birds, so they were not typical to our shorelines,” Mr Swinbourn said on Monday.

“The birds were exhausted when they were found and, sadly, passed away not very long afterwards.

“But at this stage it looks like it’s isolated at the moment,” he said.

He conceded, however, that it wouldn’t take a great deal more for the situation to escalate.

“It’s only a very small number so it’s, as I understand it, it’s six birds (to trigger a full response), so it’s not very many at all,” he said.

“We’re two at the moment, so we’ll see how we go.”