![[Weddell Sea, Snow Hill Island, Antarctica] A nursery group of Emperor penguin chicks, huddled together, looking around. A breeding colony. (Photo by David Schultz / Mint Images / Mint Images via AFP)](https://cdn.petnews2day.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Avian-influenza-or-bird-flu-has-devastated-wildlife-across-South.jpeg?strip=all&lossy=1&quality=64&webp=50&avif=38&sharp=1&resize=696%2C463&ssl=1)
There are fears for Antarctica’s wildlife after discovery of potential case of H5N1 hen flu.
Photo: David Schultz / Mint Images by way of AFP
By Jano Gibson for the ABC
It’s solely a suspected case for now, however the discovery up to now week of a single hen with potential avian influenza may mark the realisation of scientists’ worst fears.
For months, the extremely contagious and lethal H5N1 pressure of hen flu has been tearing a path of devastation throughout South America.
Now there are considerations the illness might have lastly reached the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, on the western facet of the continent.
“The impression will probably be catastrophic,” Dr. Michelle Wille, a senior analysis fellow on the Centre for Pathogen Genomics on the University of Melbourne, mentioned.
The suspected case, which is listed on the Antarctic Wildlife Health Network’s database, entails a gull-like hen referred to as a brown skua.
It was noticed by researchers on an outcrop referred to as Heroina Island.
Getting affirmation of the case is troublesome, as samples can not all the time be collected in distant places.
And even when they’re, it might probably take many days, if not weeks, to analyse them at laboratories hundreds of kilometres away.
If the latest suspected case is avian influenza, it could be the closest the illness has been to Antarctica, after beforehand being detected as close to because the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island.
Preventing its additional unfold throughout the frozen continent – together with the huge part within the east claimed by Australia – is close to not possible.
“In South America, the virus travelled your entire 6,000-kilometre backbone in about six months,” Wille mentioned.
“So this virus has the capability to maneuver huge distances, quick.
“We can solely hope that it doesn’t attain the Australian Antarctic Territory this austral summer season.
“If it does, it’ll seemingly achieve this with a path of destruction.”
Elephant seal pups undergo 70 % mortality fee
A examine launched late final month reaffirmed the devastating impression of the illness.
The report, printed in Marine Mammal Science, analysed knowledge from an outbreak amongst southern elephant seals at Peninsula Valdez in Argentina in early October.
About 70 % of the 1891 seal pups born alongside a 13-kilometre stretch of shoreline in the course of the peak breeding season died.
During the identical interval a yr earlier, the mortality fee was lower than 1 %.
By extrapolating the outcomes throughout the area’s whole colony, researchers estimate round 17,400 seal pups succumbed to the lethal illness.
Where hundreds of weaned pups would usually be anticipated in late October and early November, solely 58 have been seen.
The researchers additionally noticed dozens of grownup seal carcasses in an space the place seeing useless adults is a uncommon occasion. Other seals displayed signs together with head tremors, lack of coordination, and nasal discharges.
But it isn’t simply southern elephant seals which were affected by avian influenza.
A community of avian influenza specialists, referred to as OFFLU, has reported the deaths of greater than half-a-million birds and 50,000 mammals for the reason that illness was first detected in South America.
They embody 262,000 cormorants, 62,000 Peruvian pelicans, 32,000 sea lions and 4000 Humboldt penguins.
“Updates from our Southern American colleagues are constantly distressing given the size of mortality recorded on the continent,” Wille mentioned.
No indication of avian influenza ‘slowing down’
As a member for the Antarctic Wildlife Health Network, Wille is bracing for avian influenza’s anticipated unfold throughout the huge icy wilderness.
“In the Antarctic, we have now a excessive proportion of species which might be discovered nowhere else on the planet.
“So [the] results could possibly be catastrophic,” she mentioned.
The continent is home to 48 hen species and 26 marine mammals, together with many who congregate in small areas to breed.
“[The impact] may embody not solely emblematic species reminiscent of Emperor Penguins, however all of the unimaginable marine mammals are in danger as properly.
“In addition to direct results, like mass mortality occasions, we may see ecosystem stage impacts in that case many animals are ‘eliminated’ from the ecosystems, which is what we noticed following the mass removing of whales resulting from whaling.”
Fears about its unfold will not be restricted to Antarctica.
Scientists count on avian influenza to ultimately attain Australia and different areas throughout the Pacific.
The probably incursion will come from Asia or North America, however researchers say it’s believable it may arrive from Antarctica.
“There isn’t any indication that this devastation is slowing down anytime quickly,” Wille mentioned.
“I and all my colleagues are extraordinarily distressed by the state of affairs and the carnage we’re observing globally.”
Experts working with the Australian Antarctic Program have travelled to Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic this summer season to watch wildlife for indicators of the H5N1 pressure of the illness.
The Australian Antarctic Division has additionally applied precautionary protocols to scale back the danger of spreading avian influenza amongst birds, marine mammals, and even people.
– This story was first printed by the ABC.
