Brown skuas and giant petrels rarely make landfall. When they were found in WA, scientists feared ‘bad news’ for wildlife

The giant petrel that was found sick on Wylie Bay beach near Esperance in Western Australia. Photograph: Lori-Ann Shibish/Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary. View image in fullscreen The giant petrel that was found sick on Wylie Bay beach near Esperance in Western Australia. Photograph: Lori-Ann Shibish/Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary. Brown skuas and giant petrels rarely make landfall. When they were found in WA, scientists feared ‘bad news’ for wildlife Experts thought H5N1 bird flu would more likely reach Australia’s north. But an arrival from Antarctica had always been possible Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Brown skuas and giant petrels are a common sight offshore in southern Australian waters in the winter months, but they will rarely risk venturing on to land. So when two of these birds were discovered sick – on beaches a few kilometres apart on Western Australia’s southern coastline – it was a sign something might be wrong. On Monday it was confirmed the giant petrel had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, two days after the case was confirmed in the skua. Both birds have since died. The virus has killed millions of birds and mammals around the world since 2021 but, until now, Australia was the only continent it had failed to reach. Western Australian poultry farms locked down as second wild bird dies from H5N1 bird flu Read more Now governments and wildlife experts are waiting anxiously to see if the two cases represent the beginning of a wave of infections, fearing devastating consequences for Australian wildlife and industry. Almost 60 reports of sick and dead birds in Western Australia were made to a nationwide hotline at the weekend.. Australia’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Beth Cookson, said there was no sign that the two infections had spread to other birds. But the cases have put experts and government agencies on high alert. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Because the disease first emerged in the northern hemisphere and much of its devastation has occurred there, experts told the Guardian it was thought more likely that if it reached Australia, it would affect the northern coastline first. But an arrival from Antarctica and its surrounds had always been seen as a possibility. “Biosecurity had our eyes on the northern hemisphere,” said Dr Lauren Roman, a seabird researcher at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. “We had been warned about the arrival of migratory shorebirds and seabirds and that the virus could come in with them.” View image in fullscreen The brown skua that was brought into care after being found on a remote beach in Western Australia. Photograph: Lori-Ann Shibish/Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary She said for more than two years there had been ongoing surveillance by agencies and scientists all around Australia, constantly checking for the disease. But until now, all tests had returned neg