'Stargazing', somersaults then death. This is what suspected bird flu looks like

H5N1 bird flu takes a visible toll as agriculture industry prepares for the worst At Port Macdonnell in South Australia's south-east, a bird's unusual and disturbing behaviour catches the eye of locals. Warning: This story contains images and video that some readers may find distressing. On the ground it flaps its wings, turns in circles, cranes its neck and then somersaults. Loading...H5N1 bird flu can only be confirmed through testing but after viewing a video of the bird, a veterinarian has told 7.30 its neurological symptoms are consistent with the virus. "Neurological signs were very obvious including stargazing (opisthotonus), incoordination, and abnormal posture — no signs of seizures or paralysis but that could happen,"Wildlife veterinarian and associate professor at Adelaide University Wayne Boardman said. Infected birds will then die. Maureen Christie is the secretary of Friends of Shorebirds SE, in South Australia, and has been involved in conserving and tagging birds for research for years. Now her time is spent documenting the virus's impact on her local area of Carpenter Rocks. "It makes me like I'm going to just burst into tears any minute," Ms Christie told 7.30. "You walk onto the beach and there's one dead bird, and two steps on there's another dead bird, and you turn around and take one step the other way and there's another dead bird. "The crested terns, the ones that I've seen that have been sick, tend to be off by themselves and be fairly still, huddled down, hunched down and looking miserable. "I've seen two silver gulls sick. And one was throwing its head way back, all out of the way they normally act, and barely able to stay on its feet. "[It's] absolutely awful because there's nothing you can do about it. They can't be saved. "It's not like a sick or injured bird that can be taken into care and brought back to health. Once these birds have the disease, they're going to die." The 'list of doom' A federal government report dubbed "a list of doom" has warned almost 400 native bird and mammal species are at high to extreme risk from bird flu, including penguins, sea lions and seals and the Tasmanian Devil. The federal government has committed $2 million to vaccinate vulnerable birds in captivity, along with more than 5,000 penguins on Victoria's Phillip Island and St Kilda. "Obviously we have some quite unique animals and wildlife in Australia that we are concerned about," Agriculture Minister Julie Collins told 7.30. "In terms of the funding, the $113 million, over $47 million of that has gone into resilience and improving habitat for those threatened native species." University of Queensland virologist Kirsty Short said she was concerned about the virus's impact on native birds, based on research which had shown black swans were more susceptible to the virus than white swans. Loading..."We hypothesised based on this that Australia's geographic isolation could cause some species to have a restricted immune response because there wasn't that selective pressure, and as a result, being more susceptible to H5N1 than say Northern Hemisphere species," Professor Short said. "Unfortunately, Australia has a very strong history of extinction. And the thing that I'm concerned about is that this may be the tipping factor that tips a species into extinction." It's been almost two months since bird flu was detected in Australia. It's now been found in all six states, including the first suspected positive result in Tasmania on Thursday. Professor Short told 7.30 that Australia and New Zealand were the "last holdout", with H5N1 having ravaged more than 80 countries worldwide. Globally, hundreds of millions of poultry have died or been slaughtered because of the virus. "H5N1, which we often refer to as bird flu … really first emerged in Southern China in 1996," Professor Short said. "And what happened is that H5N1 then spread around the world, but it continued to evolve." Farmers fearing the worst While the virus has been found in wild and native birds in Australia, it's yet to be detected in poultry here. The risk to humans is low. Professor Short told 7.30 the virus is brutal on poultry. "Chickens can actually have a lot of swelling and haemorrhaging, and they can die within 24 hours,"she said. Farmers like Victorian egg producer Brian Ahmed are preparing for the worst. "At the moment we're very strict on who we allow onto the property. We have a fenced off area where all our sheds are and no one's going to go into that section unless they have to," Mr Ahmed told 7.30. As a caged egg supplier, he said his farm was at less risk than free-range producers. Inghams has locked down its poultry nationwide and anyone with more than 50 birds in Victoria's coastal or southern areas must keep them indoors. One sick chicken on a commercial farm would force a cull. "It is extreme and it's a big cost both emotionally and financially for farmers," Mr Ahmed said. "This is how we make our living. It's how we support our families. And it's also how we produce food to feed other Australian families." Breeds could be 'lost for good' Poultry fanciers, like Anne Beaty, are on edge. She has more than 100 birds. "My birds mean a lot to me. They're part of the family." Ms Beaty is secretary of the Victorian Poultry Fanciers Association, a judge and an exhibitor of birds. Last weekend she helped run a show in Geelong with heightened biosecurity measures. It could be the last for some time. Poultry exhibits at next month's Royal Adelaide Show and Melbourne Show have been cancelled. Ms Beaty said poultry fanciers had spent years breeding and developing their flock. "Some of the breeds of birds are rare and that means there's not many people showing them," she said. "Now, if those breeds are lost, they're lost for good. That's it. They're done." Vaccines have been used in Asia to manage bird flu in poultry, but not in Australia. Ms Collins said that's "not something we're ruling out here". "We're certainly working very closely with industry and with the technical experts on what is viable and feasible," she said. The federal government has said it will stop testing every dead bird as it was moving to a reporting system based on events. Professor Short said it is difficult to predict how bird flu will continue to spread across Australia but based on the overseas experience the virus is here to stay. "This particular strain of H5N1 seems to be incredibly effective at spreading as well as infecting different species," she said. "This [strain] first emerged in the Netherlands in 2020 and still now the Netherlands are having outbreaks. So this is not a short-term situation." In Carpenter Rocks, Ms Christie was trying to stay positive and hoped whatever the impact on birds, species would eventually bounce back. "The death toll? It will be what it'll be," she said. "[But] I can't imagine life without the variety of the animals and plants that we've got." Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV