HOBART, Australia — Australia has confirmed highly pathogenic H5 bird flu on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, finding the virus in samples from a southern elephant seal and a kelp gull, Reuters reported on Saturday.
Chief Veterinary Officer Beth Cookson said testing at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness confirmed the virus “in samples collected from an elephant seal and a kelp gull on Macquarie Island, marking the first H5 event on this island,” according to the federal agriculture department.
The World Heritage-listed island, about 1,500 kilometers southeast of Hobart and administered as part of Tasmania, is home to up to 4 million seabirds and 100,000 seals, ABC News reported. Tasmania’s environment minister, Guy Barnett, called it the “first recorded detection in a marine mammal in Tasmania.”
Southern elephant seals are particularly susceptible, with pup mortality above 90% in some outbreaks. On Heard Island, another Australian sub-Antarctic territory, more than 13,000 pups are believed to have died after the virus arrived in late 2025. Expert assessments predict a significant elephant seal die-off on Macquarie during the coming breeding season, Reuters said.
In August, the Australian Antarctic Division moved to withdraw personnel from the island over the “psycho-social risk” of witnessing a mass mortality event. Officials say there is no evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission in Australia and that the risk to human health remains low.
Sources: Reuters, ABC News, Australian Department of Agriculture
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