New Zealand reports first H5 bird flu case in wild seabird

New Zealand officials said on 15 July that the country had detected its first case of H5 bird flu after a migratory brown skua was found on Petone beach in Wellington and tested positive.

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard said New Zealanders were being asked to stay alert after the single ocean-going seabird returned a confirmed positive test. He said there was no evidence of transmission between wild birds and no evidence of mass mortality in wildlife.

Officials said H5 bird flu has caused severe disease and high death rates in poultry and wild birds worldwide. Australia, which had for years been the only continental landmass free of the H5 strain, detected its first case in June, and Australian authorities have since reported 14 cases.

New Zealand authorities have been vaccinating breeding populations of five of the country's most endangered birds: the kakapo, takahe, shore plover, black stilt and orange-fronted parakeet. People were asked to report groups of three or more sick birds to authorities.

The source noted that before humans arrived, New Zealand had no mammals, and many of its unique bird species, including the kiwi, cannot fly.