Two sea lions interact on a rocky surface along the coast on the Admirals Arch site in Flinders Chase National Park located in southern Australia, on Feb. 7, 2025. Véronique Tournier/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
A second seal is suspected of contracting H5 bird flu in South Australia, just a day after the nation’s first confirmed case of the virus in a mammal.
The latest suspected case, in a long-nosed fur seal, was found at The Pages Conservation Park between Kangaroo Island and the mainland.
Biological material has been sent to CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) for testing.
“The samples from new suspect events have been sent to ACDP for confirmatory testing, with results expected to be known in the coming days,” South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) said in an Aug. 24 statement.
PIRSA also reassured the public that the risk to human health of H5 bird flu “remains low.”
This follows the first confirmed detection of H5 bird flu in a mammal in Australia, in a long-nosed fur seal found dead at Beachport in South Australia.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt described the news that H5 bird flu had been detected in the seal as “a very serious development.”
“We have been saying for some time that we are likely to see mass mortalities of birds and mammals,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“I know it’s a distressing thing for Australians to hear, but we also need to be realistic. This is what we’ve seen happen overseas.
“Australia is very fortunate that we’ve been the last continent on earth to have this strain of bird flu happen, but we are likely to see those kind of events as we have overseas.”
The Beachport seal was found dead on Aug. 19 without visible injuries, with testing confirming H5 bird flu on Aug. 23.
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the development was “distressing” but not unexpected.
“We can’t stop it spreading … particularly in wild birds. And where we see more dead wild birds we do expect to see increased reports of marine mammals,” she told reporters on Aug. 23.
Australia’s H5 bird flu tally is now above the 300 mark including confirmed and suspected cases.
In early August, Collins announced that the Labor government would start rolling out bird flu vaccines for priority native bird species.
