Strengthening wildlife populations, by removing predators such as foxes and feral cats, has been flagged as key to increasing the resilience of bird numbers in the event of a bird flu outbreak. 

Australia is working to protect itself against a deadly H5 bird flu outbreak as it remains the only continent without the strain.

A H5 outbreak would lead to a large number of bird deaths which would impact dwindling flocks more, Invasive Species Council’s Jack Gough said.

Almost a third of UK nesting birds, 40 per cent of pelicans in Peru and 95 per cent of elephant seal pups in Argentina were wiped out during outbreaks, Mr Gough said.

“The health of these populations is one of the other parts of preparations we need to focus on as well and a big part of that is feral predators,” he said. 

“One of the biggest pressures on our bird populations is invasive predators.”

Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins convened a meeting of her state and territory counterparts on Friday to discuss Australia’s preparedness for any potential outbreak.

Ministers agreed to develop a national governance and cost-sharing agreement as a priority to ensure all jurisdictions were prepared for an outbreak.

Biosecurity, workforce, trade, animal welfare and climate-smart agriculture were named as priorities for 2025.

The federal government has put aside $100 million to prepare and protect Australia against the strain, which poses a significant risk to agriculture, wildlife and the economy, Ms Collins said, warning Australia couldn’t be complacent.

It would likely arrive through migratory birds the government was powerless to stop, the minister said.

“This is about making sure that if we do have it, that we get onto it quickly and we contain it quickly,” she said.

“That we don’t have it flow through to devastation in wildlife that we’ve seen in other countries and indeed into our livestock or into our food supply.”

It was important to ensure there was workplace planning so departments could still focus on other issues such as wildlife protection with hundreds of people pulled off desks during other outbreaks, Mr Gough said.

“The other element we are keen to see is greater involvement of environment departments,” he said.

“Floods, bushfires, droughts – climate change will make all of that worse and so we need to embed environment agencies in emergency management processes.”

Ministers agreed in July to war game response measures and pursue greater collaboration between agriculture, environment and health portfolios within states and territories to manage the risk from H5 bird flu.

Australia had strong biosecurity protections in place and was protected due to its geographical location, infectious diseases and outbreak response expert Md Rezanur Rahaman said. 

“The risk is minimal but it’s certainly not zero,” he told AAP, adding that he didn’t foresee an immediate threat.

The virus found in poultry can result in the need to eradicate livestock and carries the risk of being transmitted to humans. 

Usually mild to asymptomatic in people, symptoms can include sore eyes and mild respiratory issues similar to a cold, or fever, cough, tiredness and muscle aches similar to a flu in more serious cases.

Bird flu was detected in Victoria, NSW and the ACT between May and July and strict quarantine and movement restrictions were introduced to curb the spread.

This post was originally published on Michael West.