Second case of deadly bird flu confirmed in WA as fears grow for black swans and national spread

A second bird has been confirmed as having the deadly H5 virus that has sparked fears that WA’s wildlife and poultry industry could be decimated.

WA’s chief veterinary officer Michelle Rodan also confirmed that 58 reports of dead or sick birds were made over the weekend between Esperance and Perth.

“There were 42 calls (on Sunday) to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline from multiple locations throughout the State,” Dr Rodan said.

“These reports of dead or unwell birds have been triaged by DPIRD based on risk of H5 bird flu.

“Importantly, there have been no reports of large-scale mortalities.

“Nine samples were collected for testing, including one report of dead seabirds in the Esperance area.

“On the previous day (Sat 20 June), there were 16 calls to the hotline.”

Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said on Monday that there was no evidence of mass deaths in wildlife, with the Australian poultry and agricultural systems remaining free from bird flu.

“We are working to determine whether the H5 bird flu has established in the wildlife or Australia, other than these two isolated birds,” she said.

WA Premier Roger Cook said that he was extremely concerned about the virus having finally reached Australian shores.

“We need to really respond very vigorously to this early detection and we’re lucky that we’ve got that early detection,” he said in Canberra just after meeting Ms Collins to discuss the preparations.

“But now we need to move to further understanding about what the impact, in terms of ... the evolving of the pathogen but also in terms of how we can protect our economy.

“This is a big issue. This is a big deal and we’re going to work closely with the Commonwealth to make sure that we can respond to it.”

National Cabinet also discussed the virus outbreak during its virtual meeting on Monday morning.

Some farms in Gingin and Muchea are already voluntarily locking down after the confirmed detection of the avian influenza near Esperance.

WA Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn said there was no evidence that the virus had spread.

“Those two birds were found some way apart from each other and they were both Antarctic or sub-Antarctic birds, so they were not typical to our shorelines,” he said on Monday.

“The birds were exhausted when they were found and, sadly, passed away not very long afterwards.

“But at this stage it looks like it’s isolated at the moment.”

The first bird was a brown skua, found by local vet Toni Howlett as she was walking along a beach last week.

Tests confirmed it was Australia’s first case of the highly infectious H5 bird flu, which has impacted more than 560 wild bird species and about 100 types of mammals overseas.

The bird flu has been blamed for the deaths of an estimated 13,000 southern elephant seal pups in 2025 on Heard Island, 4000km south-west of Perth.

The second sick bird is a giant petrel.

Since the first alert was issued on Friday, at least 16 other sick or dead birds have been reported to authorities.

Mr Swinbourn said a bigger response would be triggered if more cases were confirmed.

“It’s only a very small number so it’s, as I understand it, it’s six birds (to trigger a full response), so it’s not very many at all,” he said.

“We’re potentially two at the moment, so we’ll see how we go.

“This disease has unfortunately been in and around the global population for some time and so there’s a lot known about it and we’ve been very lucky in Australia, our geographical isolation has allowed us to avoid contact.

“These are isolated parts of our State. There’s very little population outside of Esperance along the southern coast.

“It’s the same issue for South Australia as well and these are wild animals, we can’t really place the physical restrictions on them.”

There are major concerns for WA’s native black swan population if the virus spreads.

“Part of that’s to do with the way that black swans are made up with and their vulnerability to this particular disease, so it’s very concerning,” Mr Swinbourn said.

“Obviously these are wild animals, they’re not easy to vaccinate and as I understand it there’s no viable vaccination that’s available for them at this particular time.”

Rangers are scouring the Cape Le Grand National Park for any sign of sick birds and urging the public to stay away and report any sightings to an emergency animal disease hotline.

“We’ve been preparing for this for at least the last two years, so there are plans in place,” Conservation and Ecosystem management executive director Fran Stanley said.

“It will depend on what what species are impacted, where the birds are found, whether it extends into marine mammals.

“There’s a whole range of different factors that will inform a response.”