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Australia Races to Shield Little Penguins From H5N1 Bird Flu
Wildlife teams plan to inoculate about 5,000 little penguins as H5N1 spreads through wild bird populations and one bird has already died.
- Australian wildlife authorities have launched an urgent vaccination campaign to protect little penguins from the highly contagious H5N1 bird flu, following the first confirmed death of a Phillip Island penguin from the virus.
- Officials plan to vaccinate up to 5,000 little penguins at Phillip Island and Melbourne’s St Kilda, making the effort one of the largest, and potentially the largest, vaccination campaigns involving wild birds.
- Each penguin must receive two vaccine doses, requiring wildlife teams to carefully capture, process and identify the birds during their movements between the sea and nesting areas.
- The threat is particularly serious because Phillip Island is home to about 40,000 little penguins that live closely together, creating conditions in which the virus could spread rapidly through the colony.
- The emergency response comes as H5 bird flu spreads among Australian wildlife, with mass deaths reported in South Australia and additional penguin deaths under investigation in Tasmania, raising fears for vulnerable native species.
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17 Articles
17 Articles
In response to the threat of the H5N1 virus, the Australian authorities launched an unprecedented vaccination operation to protect the world's largest colony of pygmy penguins.
·France
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Radio France Internationale+4 Reposted by 4 other sources
Australia races to shield little penguins from H5N1 bird flu
Hundreds of thousands of tourists a year flock to viewing areas and boardwalks to watch the diminutive sea birds waddle ashore and along the beach in the evenings on the eastern coast's Phillip Island. The stars of this "penguin parade" are from a wild colony on the island, numbering up to 40,000 seabirds at the height of the breeding season in the southern hemisphere's spring and summer. It is the world's biggest single colony of little penguin…
·Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources17
Leaning Left7Leaning Right3Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution47% Left
Bias Distribution
- 47% of the sources lean Left
47% Left
L 47%
C 33%
R 20%
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