Bird flu kills Phillip Island penguin as death toll mounts in Victoria

A Phillip Island penguin has died from bird flu as the toll of the highly contagious virus mounts rapidly across Victoria.

Victoria’s Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Graeme Cooke and Chief Biodiversity Officer James Todd on Saturday afternoon confirmed the bird’s death.

So far across Victoria, H5 bird flu has been detected in wild birds across Phillip Island, Mildura, Warrnambool, Hamilton, St Andrews Beach and Hawkesdale. Multiple concerned residents took to social media community pages during the week to share photos of the dying birds, with many also seen around Portland.

Earlier this week, the state government announced they were “moving quickly” to vaccinate little penguins against the deadly virus.

Doses of the vaccine were due to be administered to penguins on Phillip Island “early next week”, with more than 5000 of the birds across there and St Kilda expected to be vaccinated. The rollout, however, will be challenging as each bird needs to be caught and vaccinated twice to receive the full dose.

While the government said the vaccination itself would not stop the deadly bird flu from circulating, it would “help reduce its impact alongside existing biosecurity, surveillance and wildlife response measures”.

“The death of the little penguin is concerning, but we are proceeding with the vaccination program as quickly as possible,” Todd said on Saturday.

“In fact, really just makes that even the more urgent task to get on with.”