A fresh outbreak of suspected avian influenza has emerged on Tasmania’s King Island in Australia, leaving 28 little penguins dead and triggering an urgent government response to contain potential spread of the virus. Alongside the deceased penguins, three dead crested terns were also recovered at the Port of Grassy, where the discovery was made, prompting state authorities to deploy specialized investigative teams to the site.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff confirmed the development in an official Facebook post Thursday, noting that diagnostic testing is currently underway to confirm whether H5 bird flu is the cause of death. To support the investigation, additional personnel have been redirected to King Island to boost on-the-ground surveillance operations and expand capacity for sample and carcass collection.
In a formal statement, the Tasmanian Department of Natural Resources explained that collected tissue samples have already been dispatched to the state’s Animal Health Laboratory for analysis. All recovered bird carcasses are being securely collected and processed to reduce any potential risk of disease transmission to other wildlife or domestic animals, even as the cause of death remains unconfirmed.
This new cluster of deaths comes as Tasmania has already recorded 11 confirmed cases of bird flu in wild birds earlier this year. Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins issued a stark public warning earlier this month, forecasting that avian influenza cases would rise across Australia in the coming months.
Collins emphasized that given the highly contagious and virulent nature of the H5 strain of bird flu, complete prevention of spread among wild bird populations is unfeasible. “We’ve done everything we can, but we cannot stop a very virulent, very contagious disease in this bird flu,” she said. “It is not possible to avoid significant losses, which is what we’re starting to see now.” Despite the grim outlook, the minister reaffirmed that the federal government would continue taking all feasible measures to protect Australia’s native wildlife populations from the ongoing outbreak.