Drone footage shows many seal deaths on Australian island

Avian Influenza

Thu 18 Jun 2026 at 9:25am

In short:

The H5 bird flu was first found on Heard Island late last year. Hundreds of southern elephant seal pups were dead.

More than three-quarters of all pups, about 13,000, are now thought to have died from the disease.

What's next?

Australia is still free of the virus, but it could hurt wildlife if it spreads.

Research shows the bad impact of bird flu on a remote Australian area. Over 13,000 baby seals are believed to have been killed.

Heard Island and McDonald Islands are 4,000 kilometres south-west of mainland Australia. They are a good place for seals and seabirds to breed.

Many elephant seal pups have died from bird flu on Heard Island.

In October last year, a research trip found that H5 bird flu had reached the area for the first time.

At that time, scientists said hundreds of dead southern elephant seal pups were found on Heard Island.

But looking at data from a second trip in January shows a worse situation.

Heard Island is a popular place for breeding seals.

The researchers think 13,359 seal pups died from the disease out of 17,364 total.

The number could be even higher because some seal groups lost up to 97 per cent of pups.

The findings are in the scientific journal BioRxiv, but have not been reviewed yet.

Researchers went to Heard Island and McDonald Islands in October and January.

'Potentially catastrophic threat' to wildlife

H5 bird flu was found in king penguins, gentoo penguins, and Antarctic fur seals, as well as a brown skua and a South Georgia diving petrel.

But only southern elephant seals had a big die-off, and they are now listed as 'vulnerable' to extinction.

King penguins and gentoo penguins also had more deaths than usual.

The researchers believe the virus reached Heard Island and McDonald Islands in August last year.

It likely came from infected wildlife from the Crozet Islands, 1,700 kilometres away.

Scientists have been studying bird flu on Heard Island.

If the virus spreads to other areas, it could have very bad impacts.

The emergence of the virus poses a severe threat to wildlife in the Southern Ocean and sub-Antarctic areas.

Heard Island and McDonald Islands are protected by World Heritage.

Drones provide crucial data to scientists

The researchers used drones, ground searches, and viral genome analysis to make their findings.

They did 120 drone flights, which took 54 hours and covered 1,600 kilometres.

Ground searches only covered 8.8 kilometres.

A mass die-off of southern elephant seals was found at Capsize Beach on Heard Island's south-east.

The researchers say using modern technology helped them collect data without hurting local wildlife.

The combination of drones and molecular tools can help monitor the virus and its impact on species.

The H5 strain of bird flu has caused big problems for wildlife in other parts of the world.

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In Argentina, 96 per cent of southern elephant seal pups died in 2022.

In South Georgia, the number of breeding females decreased by 47 per cent between 2022 and 2024.

Heard Island is a remote Australian territory.

The report says elephant seals have been affected more by bird flu than other species.

They are unlikely to leave infected areas, which could lead to more outbreaks.

These events are a concern for conservation because most of the global breeding southern elephant seal population is in a few areas.

The Australian Antarctic Program is still watching for signs of the virus on Macquarie Island and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Australia is the only continent without H5 bird flu

There is no sign of the virus on the Australian mainland, including Tasmania.

The government has spent $113 million to prepare for the virus.

The Environment Minister said any loss of wildlife is serious.

The government must plan for the possibility of the virus arriving in Australia.

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