It was only a matter of time, but highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has officially found its way to bird populations in Antarctica, after dead migratory brown skua on Bird Island returned positive test results. This is the first time that bird flu has made its way to Antarctica.
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00:00 It was only a matter of time, but highly pathogenic avian influenza has officially found its way
00:12 to bird populations in Antarctica after dead migratory brown squaw on Bird Island returned
00:18 positive test results.
00:20 This is the first time that bird flu has made its way to Antarctica.
00:26 This has raised concerns for isolated populations of penguins and seals that have never been
00:30 exposed to the deadly H5N1 virus before.
00:34 The full impact of the virus' arrival is not yet known, but scientists are raising
00:39 concerns about possible catastrophic breeding failure of the region's fragile wildlife
00:44 populations.
00:45 The British Antarctic Survey said its staff at Bird Island, which is a remote British
00:49 research station, noticed that a type of bird called squaw was sick and dying in South Georgia.
00:55 The tests were sent to Britain and the brown squaw seabirds were found positive for avian
01:01 influenza, said the UK's Polar Research Institute in a statement on Monday.
01:07 The virus was most likely brought by birds returning from their migration to South America,
01:11 where there has been a huge number of bird flu cases.
01:15 There have been regular bird flu outbreaks since the virus first emerged in 1996.
01:21 Since mid-2021, much larger outbreaks started to spread southward to previously untouched
01:26 areas including South America, leading to mass deaths among wild birds and tens of millions
01:32 of poultry being culled.
01:35 The current outbreak of the highly infectious variant of H5N1, which started in 2021, is
01:41 estimated to have killed millions of wild birds.
01:44 Researchers have long been concerned about its potential impact on Antarctic wildlife
01:48 because many species are found nowhere else in the world and are not known to have been
01:53 exposed to bird flu viruses before.
01:56 Birds such as penguins that have never before been exposed to the virus would have no prior
02:01 immunity, potentially making them more vulnerable.
02:05 The virus has also been detected in a growing number of mammals, raising fears it could
02:09 mutate into a version that is more transmissible between humans.
02:14 Falkland Island is considered one of the planet's richest wildlife sites, home to many endangered
02:19 bird species as well as 50,000 pairs of breeding penguins and 65,000 pairs of fur seals.
02:26 The island lies just off the northwest tip of South Georgia, about 600 miles southeast
02:32 of the Falkland Islands.
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03:00 (upbeat music)