Updated August 23, 2026 — 1:15pm,first published 12:03pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. AAA A long-nosed fur seal has been announced as the first confirmed death of a mammal by the deadly bird flu virus that is now spreading through Australia,
Updated ,first published
A long-nosed fur seal has been announced as the first confirmed death of a mammal by the deadly bird flu virus that is now spreading through Australia, a development in the progression of the virus long expected but dreaded by scientists.
The fur seal, one of 11 detections announced by the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness on Sunday, was found dead with no signs of injury at Beachport in South Australia by a member of the public on Wednesday, but the H5 bird flu detection was not confirmed until further tests were conducted.
Since the initial detection of the virus in wild migratory birds in Western Australia in June, it has been identified in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and Tasmania, where a mass death of penguins on King Island has been attributed to bird flu.
Bird flu killed around 75 per cent of seal pups on the Australia’s subantarctic Heard Island and McDonald Islands during the last breeding season, and the crossover to mammal species in Australia has been anticipated.
Bird flu viruses have circulated around the globe for decades. H5N1 is a particularly deadly variant and has killed hundreds of millions of birds around the world, with nearly 400 native Australian bird and mammal species facing extreme, very high, or high risk from bird flu.
Programs to vaccinate captive or discrete populations of small and highly vulnerable bird species – such as the little penguins at Phillip Island and St Kilda – are planned or under way, but there is no vaccination for mammals yet approved for use in Australia.
Vaccinating wild populations is difficult because each animal would need to be caught to receive multiple doses of the vaccine. Vaccine development and approval for Australia is complicated because so many species are endemic to this country.
The discovery of the dead fur seal has increased fears for well-known and beloved colonies of animals, such as the fur seals that congregate at Montague Island near Narooma on the NSW South Coast.
Jack Gough, chief executive of the Endangered Species Council, said the detection of bird flu in the fur seal was significant because it was clear that mammal-to-mammal transmission could quickly cause large losses in vulnerable populations.
“For fur seals in places like Montague Island in NSW or Kangaroo Island in South Australia, where large colonies exist, we could see high death rates leading to localised colony collapses,” he said.
“If it gets into Australian sea lions, though, this could be an extinction-level event, because fewer than 10,000 mature adults remain on Kangaroo Island and the WA coast.
“We are still just at the early stages of this devastating virus and the bad news is going to keep coming for our wildlife as it spreads around the continent and between species.”
He said successive governments had failed to prepare for the virus’s arrival in Australia by working to shore up vulnerable populations through addressing invasive species, habitat loss and climate change before the “entirely predictable wave of devastation from bird flu” reached the country.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said last month that the nation was well prepared for the spread of the virus and had improved biosecurity in the agricultural sector, but that captive bird populations in zoos and other institutions would be the priority for vaccination.
As bird flu continues to spread more quickly, national protocols have now changed so that new reports are now based on “events” involving one or more animals, rather than individual cases.
As of Friday afternoon the federal Department of Agriculture was reporting 297 events. The virus has not spread into poultry or agriculture sectors, and the government says the risk to humans remains low.
Get to the heart of what’s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.
Nick O’Malley is National Environment and Climate Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is also a senior writer and a former US correspondent.Connect via email.From our partners
Check back often for more exciting news!
