Scientists Warn H5N1 Bird Flu Threatens Australia's Endangered Sea Lions and Seals

Scientists have issued stark warnings that an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 bird flu could devastate seal and sea lion populations across Australia, following the country's first confirmed mammalian infection. South Australian authorities verified the presence of the H5N1 strain in a dead long-nosed fur seal discovered at Beachport on the state's Limestone Coast. The development has raised deep concerns among wildlife researchers, who caution that the virus could trigger widespread fatalities among Australia's remaining 12,000 sea lions and other local pinnipeds. The warning follows severe global precedents in South America and sub-Antarctic regions, where the virus has previously decimated marine mammal colonies, inflicting particularly heavy mortality rates on young pups.