South Australia has recorded the first death of an endangered Australian sea lion from H5 bird flu. The sea lion was discovered dead at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island, which hosts the third-largest single colony of the species.
Emily Bourke, South Australia's environment minister, stated on Sunday that while the sea lion had been recovering from a shark attack, bird flu was the cause of death. She noted that the Australian sea lion is the rarest seal in Australian waters, with 85% of its population found in South Australia.
The population of Australian sea lions is already declining by 2% annually. Bourke warned that bird flu could have a "devastating impact" on population levels if no vaccine becomes available. There are currently no readily available mammal vaccines for the virus, although experimental trials have been conducted on monk seals in Hawaii.
Last month, mammal scientist John Woinarski expressed concerns that the virus would quickly spread among seals and sea lions due to the proximity of their colonies to breeding seabirds. H5 bird flu has already caused significant losses in pinniped populations in South America and sub-Antarctica.