A subtype of bird flu that has been rampant almost worldwide since 2021 has reached Antarctica. In view of the fear of mass extinction, environmentalists are urging that protective measures for the region be quickly expanded.
Until now, Antarctica, along with Australia and Oceania, was considered a region into which bird flu pathogens had not yet penetrated. But now the first cases have been registered here too. Environmental and climate activists are concerned about the existence of animal species living in Antarctica.
As the polar research organization British Antarctic Survey (BAS) reports, the first infections with the H5N1 subtype of the bird flu pathogen occurred on the small island of Bird Island in the Southern Ocean. The brown skuas, also known as sub-Antarctic skuas, which are part of the skuas, are affected. The organization believes some of the birds brought the virus with them when they returned to Antarctica from South America.
Some of the brown skuas apparently brought the virus with them when they returned to Antarctica from South America.
Bird flu now threatens to trigger a “first-degree environmental catastrophe” in Antarctica, warned marine biologist Ralf Sonntag from the animal protection organization Pro Wildlife. According to BAS, entire colonies of various seabird species live on Bird Island – including migratory, black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses, giant petrels as well as golden-crested and gentoo penguins.
Up to 100 million seabirds have their breeding grounds there, and five penguin species such as emperor and Adelie penguins only occur there. Seal species such as Weddell seals and leopard seals also lived in the region.
Thousands of dead sea creatures in South America
The devastating impact that bird flu can have on species populations has already become apparent in other regions around the world. The outbreak of the disease caused by the H5N1 variant began in autumn 2021. The pathogen gradually spread in the northern hemisphere, southern Africa, the Atlantic, the Pacific and South America.
At the end of 2022, the subtype first reached Peru and later Chile, causing the deaths of thousands of marine creatures in the countries, including pelicans, penguins, sea otters, seals and marine mammals. Dead sea lions were discovered on the Atlantic coast in Uruguay and Argentina in the summer, as the dpa news agency reported. A total of around 15,000 dead seals have been recorded in South America so far.
In Europe, too, the disease has already caused increased deaths in breeding colonies of coastal birds this summer. As the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, which is responsible for animal health research, announced, these registered cases had “sometimes taken on the scale of local mass deaths.” Seagulls, terns and northern gannets were affected. Cats, foxes, martens, minks and seals also died.
It has not yet been proven whether the virus was also transmitted between mammals. The pathogen is currently considered relatively harmless to humans.
The Antarctic habitat is already severely endangered
In view of the feared mass extinction in Antarctica, environmentalists are all the more urgently calling for more comprehensive protection of the region. The Antarctic habitat is already massively endangered by the effects of climate change, overly intensive fishing and increasing tourism numbers, warned German Environmental Aid.
In an interview with dpa, Claire Christian, managing director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, also warned: “The remote area of the Antarctic continent and the Southern Ocean consists of very sensitive ecosystems.” It is therefore all the more important to create protected refuges for Antarctic species. “We also expect everyone working in Antarctica – scientists, support staff, tourists and fishing operators – to do everything in their power to stop the spread of this terrible virus,” Christian urged.
The annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is currently taking place in Hobart, Australia. At the conference, governments responsible for protecting Antarctic marine fauna and flora will seek to expand marine protected areas in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea and the waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. The project most recently failed at a special meeting of the CCAMLR in June due to resistance from Russia and China.