Australia races to shield little penguins from H5N1 bird flu
Health
August 20, 2026
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SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian wildlife workers have launched an unprecedented effort to vaccinate wild populations of little penguins against the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists a year flock to viewing areas and boardwalks to watch the diminutive sea birds waddle ashore and along the beach in the evenings on the eastern coast’s Phillip Island.
The stars of this “penguin parade” are from a wild colony on the island, numbering up to 40,000 seabirds at the height of the breeding season in the southern hemisphere’s spring and summer.
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