Bird flu kills more than 75% of baby seals on remote Australian island, study finds

Bird flu has killed thousands of southern elephant seal pups on remote Antarctic islands belonging to Australia, new research has shown.

Heard and McDonald Islands, about 4,000 km (2,485 miles) south-west of Australia, are home to over one million breeding seabirds and seals.

Scientists, using data from last October and this January, estimate about 13,000 baby seals from a group of 17,000 on Heard Island were killed by the H5N1 strain of bird flu since last August, more than 75% of the entire group. They also found higher than expected deaths in penguin populations.

Australia is the only continent with no cases of the H5N1 strain which has spread among birds worldwide and affected some mammals.

This latest research, published in the scientific journal BioRxiv and yet to be peer reviewed, was based on drone surveys and ground visits to the hard-to-reach islands where scientists collected samples from nine species.

Of those, six species tested positive for the H5N1 strain: the southern elephant seal, king and gentoo penguins, the Antarctic fur seal and the South George diving petrel.

Late last year, scientists were alerted to the possible impact of bird flu on the islands when a research voyage found hundreds of dead baby seals.

More research conducted this January confirmed bird flu had mainly hit southern elephant seal pup populations with a smaller impact on king and gentoo penguins.