Overview
- A migratory giant petrel found on June 14 on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula tested positive for H5N1, joining confirmed detections in Western Australia and raising the confirmed wild-bird total on the mainland to multiple seabirds.
- Authorities have sent additional suspected positives from Esperance and Quindalup to the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness for confirmatory testing and are prioritising dozens of public reports for lab analysis.
- Officials say all detections so far are isolated vagrant migratory seabirds, there is no evidence of spread to commercial poultry or large wildlife die-offs, and the risk to human health remains low.
- Poultry producers have instituted precautionary measures including site lockdowns, regulators have convened emergency response groups, and conservation scientists are urging stepped-up monitoring and temporary limits on activities that could move infected birds.
- Public guidance stresses do not touch sick or dead wildlife, report sightings to the Emergency Animal Disease hotline, and notes prior federal funding and response plans are being activated to protect farms and native bird populations.