How H5N1 reached NZ and what it means for our birds – The Front Page
H5N1 bird flu has landed in New Zealand.
The positive result from a brown skua found at Wellington’s Petone Beach is the country’s first case of the strain.
For months, officials, farmers, and Department of Conservation workers have been bracing for this moment, trying to protect our wildlife from a virus that’s already devastated birds around the world.
University of Otago virologist Professor Jemma Geoghegan told The Front Page that while there’s a low public health risk, it’s a massive threat to our native birds.
“Our experience from watching this virus spread across the world is that many different wild birds are susceptible to this virus and it has wiped out entire populations in some areas of the world as well, and not just birds, but marine mammals, things like seals and sea lions, which we have here as well.
“So it could be catastrophic. There are proactive approaches the Department of Conservation is taking in terms of doing vaccination campaigns and so on. That is really challenging, though, in wildlife.
“It can only really be feasibly done in highly managed captive populations that can be managed so that you can give the right dosage, and you can capture them multiple times to give them multiple doses as well.
“It’s likely going to be our water birds that are at risk first of all, and we have lots of endemic populations that only exist in New Zealand.
“They’re already dealing with other threats like climate change, predation, and other diseases. They’re quite highly managed already, so this is an additional threat that is likely going to have catastrophic consequences,” she said.
Specialist investigators have been dispatched to Petone Beach and “nothing of concern” has been found.
Ministry for Primary Industries’ chief veterinary officer Dr Mary van Andel said that it’s not unusual at this time of year to find individual dead birds of different breeds along our coastlines because of storms and other natural events.
“To date, we have a single coastal detection in an individual ocean-going seabird, and there remains no evidence of any mass mortality in wildlife or transmission between wild birds in New Zealand.
“There has been no detection in poultry,” she said.
If people see three or more sick or dead birds in a group, they should report it immediately to the exotic pets and disease hotline on 0800 80 99 66.
No one should handle or move the birds.
In 2020, H5N1 avian influenza emerged in the Northern Hemisphere, became established in wild birds, and spread to the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and other regions.
In 2023, it was detected in the Southern Hemisphere. Since then, it has spread through South America to the sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- What is bird flu?
- Risk to humans
- Prevention and control
- Lessons from 2024.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
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