In a mid-March statement, the World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH) warned of the threat to wildlife from highly pathogenic avian influenza. The statement was prompted by a diagnosis of H5N1 HPAI in skuas collected by scientists at the Primavera Antarctic Research Base operated by Argentine. The WOAH statement included, “Once considered primarily a threat to poultry, HPAI has ushered in a new normal whereby HPAI is moving from wild birds to wild mammals with impacts beyond anything previously seen.” The statement continued, “At the latest count there have been 485 species from over 25 avian orders affected and 37 new mammal species infected since 2021. Only the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand remain free of the disease, but the situation is changing rapidly.”
The WOAH Working Group on Wildlife has produced guidelines on vaccination of species under conservation. California Condors have been vaccinated under special license in the U.S. following mortality presumably from scavenging dead waterfowl.
The WOAH notes that the magnitude of losses “at the current scale presents an unprecedented risk of wildlife population collapse creating an ecological crisis.”
The WOAH emphasizes the need for interagency coordination and collection of data through the World Animal Health Information System.
EGG-NEWS has reported on outbreaks involving high mortality in numerous wild avian species including cranes in Israel and India, swans in the E.U., Dalmatian pelicans and endangered barnacle geese. (retrievable by entering “avian influenza” in the SEARCH block). The recovery of H5N1 HPAI virus from free-living birds including grackles and blackbirds associated with bovine influenza-H5N1 suggests that the infection is now endemic in the U.S. and is not confined to migratory waterfowl.