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Suspected bird flu at Seal Bay reinforces urgent call for $200m Wildlife Resilience Fund

The Invasive Species Council says the suspected detection of H5N1 bird flu in a greater-crested tern at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island could mean the disease is on the doorstep of one of Australia’s most important sea lion colonies, warning urgent investment is needed in wildlife resilience before more threatened species are put at risk. 

The Seal Bay case is one of 11 new suspected cases of H5 bird flu in South Australia, 7 of which are in the south-east and 4 on Kangaroo Island. 

The suspected detection at Seal Bay comes just as funding has run out for its feral cat control program around, despite invasive predator control being one of the most effective ways to improve wildlife resilience to emerging threats such as bird flu.

‘The suspected detection of H5N1 bird flu at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island is deeply concerning because it brings the virus to the doorstep of one of Australia’s most important Australian sea lion colonies,’ James Johnston, Invasive Species Council Senior Advocate said. 

‘While this detection is in a greater-crested tern and there is currently no evidence the virus has spread to sea lions, its proximity to such a significant seal colony highlights how quickly this disease is moving through wildlife.

‘This is exactly why we’ve been calling for a $200 million Wildlife Resilience Fund. We can’t stop bird flu reaching every corner of Australia, but we can give our wildlife a much better chance of surviving it.

‘Just last week we were in the media talking about the fact that funding had run out for feral cat management around Seal Bay. Now, just days later, suspected bird flu has arrived at the doorstep of one of Australia’s most important wildlife refuges. It is a stark reminder that we cannot afford to let critical conservation programs lapse just as new threats emerge.

‘A Wildlife Resilience Fund would ensure critical programs like cat management don’t stall at exactly the moment Australia’s wildlife needs them most. We cannot afford to let years of conservation progress unravel because the funding disappears when new threats are emerging.

‘The tragedy unfolding overseas shows exactly what’s at stake. More than 30,000 South American sea lions have died, along with 17,000 southern elephant seal pups. In parts of Argentina, 95 per cent of elephant seal pups died in a single breeding season. Those are the kinds of losses we have to do everything possible to prevent in Australia.’

Media Inquiries: (02) 8006 5004

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]