Dianne Brunton: Auckland University professor on whether there's more bird flu cases in NZ

More cases of bird flu seem inevitable here, according to some experts.

Our first infection with the globally spreading H5N1 strain has been confirmed in a migratory brown skua, found on Wellington's Petone Beach last Friday. 

Auckland University Professor Dianne Brunton says it's not even clear if our next likely case will be linked. 

"New Zealand is kind of in the middle of nowhere, of course, but we are surrounded by seabirds - we're the seabird capital of the world." 

MPI is asking people to stay vigilant and report any groups of sick or dead wild birds.

The illness is a low risk to humans, and our poultry and eggs are safe to eat.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Afternoon. There is growing agreement that the spread of bird
flu in New Zealand is inevitable after the first confirmed
case of it, the sick Ocean going brown skewer that
was found on Potni Beach, has now died. Professor Diane
Brunton from Auckland University School of Biological Sciences is with us.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hi, Diane, Good evening, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
What makes it inevitable?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, if we just take a look at what's happened
around the world, it's everywhere, and New Zealand is kind
of in the middle of nowhere, of course, but we
are surrounded by we have seabirds, with a seabird capital
of the world, so it was kind of inevitable that
it was going to come in with seabirds. Whether it

(00:40):
is this time and spreads from this event or events
it might be happening at the moment is still an
open question. But at some point it will hit us.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Do we have any idea what it's going to do
to our unvaccinated native birds.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
No, the short answer is no, we don't know. You
know what the response will be. Our birds are pretty unique,
so that could be in our favor or it could
go against us. We have. You know, we have a
lot of forest birds that are endemic to New Zealand
only found here, and the forest birds tend to be

(01:18):
quite sedentary and set up territory, so they're not necessarily
going to form big social groups, which is what happens
with many of the breeding seabirds and that's how it
kind of transmits. But they also are all not on
these offshore islands where we protect them from invasive predators,

(01:39):
and all those offshore islands have seabirds on them.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, okay, So the best case scenario obviously is nothing
happens and they're fine. Worst case scenario is what, Well, the.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Worst case scenario is that so much of the conservation
work that has been done over the last thirty forty
years will be undone, and there is there is a
real risk for those species that have really small population
sizes and a really limited range only on one or
two islands that you know, extinction is a possibility. Okay,

(02:12):
it's awful to say it, but yeah, yeah, well we
may be.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
We may as well be honest about it. If you
are a pet owner with a bird, should you get
it vaccinated? And also what if you're a cat owner
and your cat's going to eat a sick bird, what
should you do?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well, there is there's not really vaccinations available for people
to vaccinate their birds. I think the thing about our
birds at home is there really if you've got a
bird that's in a cage, it's not going to come
in contact into contact with this. And we will get
more warning about it, you know, because what's happened overseas

(02:49):
we see that. You can you can see the spread
because of surveillance that is going on, so you know
when it's starting to hit some areas and that's when
you know, well before then, as you see it coming,
that's when you know, really tough precautions have to be taken.
I think the backyard poultry is a is going to
be an issue and I know that has been the

(03:09):
case in the UK and other parts of Europe when
this disease has hit, because poultry are particularly susceptible to this,
and I work best will be getting advice on that
from MPI. But so far as as cats go, well
they shouldn't be out there eating birds anyway. For one
thing they do they do and maybe this will be

(03:33):
you know a chance for cat owners to keep their
cats inside a bit more often.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay, Diane, thank you very much. Really appreciated, professor. You
know you've stirred trouble now, you know it?

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I yes, good on you.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Appreciated Professor Diane Brunton, Auckland University, School of Biological Sciences.
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