Australia to Evacuate Antarctic-Region Research Station Over Bird Flu Risk to Seals

Australia said it will evacuate the roughly two dozen tradespeople, scientists and support staff working at its research station on Macquarie Island, a remote island halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica, because of concern over a potential outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza among the island's thousands of elephant seals. No cases of the virus have yet been detected on Macquarie Island, but officials expect many seals to die from it during the animals' breeding season, which runs from September through November.

Sean Sullivan, deputy secretary at Australia's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, said the risk of H5 bird flu to humans is considered low, but that the department could not ignore the "psychosocial risks of living near potentially large numbers of affected animals." The evacuation is intended to protect the well-being of staff and the safe operation of the station rather than to prevent virus transmission to people.

The 24 staff on Macquarie Island will be evacuated on the icebreaker RSV Nuyina in September or early October, Australia's environment ministry said. Elephant seals are highly susceptible to H5N1, and officials reported in June that thousands of elephant seal pups had already died from the virus on Australia's Heard and McDonald Islands, another remote territory. Australia had for years been the only continental landmass free of the H5 strain, which has caused severe disease and death in poultry and wild birds worldwide.

As of Friday, Australian authorities had reported 341 confirmed or presumed positive cases of H5 bird flu nationwide, with no cases detected in poultry or in the country's agricultural production.