Update on avian influenza

Highly-pathogenic avian influenza is a major catastrophe for our bird populations and has been decimating domestic and wild bird populations, and marine mammals elsewhere around the globe. The risk of HPAI H5N1 arriving to our shores is deemed to be “medium”. You can read more in the WHA report.

In addition to HPAI H5N1, other subtypes of avian influenza are found in Australia. Most of those that are found in wild birds pose no risk to wild birds and don’t make them sick. They occasionally jump to poultry and become disease causing (i.e. evolve to become HPAI), such as we have seen in Victoria, NSW, ACT in 2024. Read more about this on the Doherty Institute webpage.

Keep up to date on avian influenza at Michelle Wille’s website

Read also about actions being taken by BirdLife Australia

What can you do?

If you see birds that might be sick, do not touch them. Contact Wildlife Health Australia on 1800 675 888.

Are there other things we can do as individuals?

A simple action you can take is to reduce stress on wild birds particularly our congregatory birds like shorebirds. So this means avoid disturbing wild birds e.g. from dog walking, jogging, drone use, etc.

If you have chooks and ducks at home, netting your pens and washing your footwear may be useful preventative measures. If any of your birds get sick, keep them isolated from other birds and particularly wild birds.

If you’re a land owner, protecting and enhancing habitat for wild birds will help them find food and breed successfully. Bigger populations of wild birds will better (self) defense than small populations.

Some relevant reading about ecological persistence in the face of disease: Ecological countermeasures to prevent pathogen spillover and subsequent pandemics and Four Facts Every Conservation Biologists Should Know about Persistence