Endangered South African penguins hit by bird flu 

Time and again, birds around the globe have been affected by avian influenza, better known as bird flu. It’s an acute and highly contagious viral strain carried by birds and primarily affecting them. However, humans, if in close contact, can also suffer from this seasonal epidemic.  

And now, after USA and Europe, South Africa too has been hit by bird flu. Recently, nature conservationists and ornithologists in South Africa were alerted following a bird flu outbreak causing the death of around 30 penguins. Those who didn’t die, had to be put down, once affected, reveals sources.  

For those unaware, bird flu, although treatable in humans, is fatal in case of most birds. In fact, it has been ongoing in Africa since May last year (with certain breaks in between) and has even killed a range of seabirds, including over 20000 Cape cormorant birds (endemic to southwestern coasts of Africa) in 2021 alone. But this time, it has primarily affected African penguins, that are now an endangered species in a place called Boulders Penguin Colony (located in Simon’s Town), that is only a 40 minutes’ drive from Cape Town’s city centre and is home (also a breeding site) to 3000 of the native birds.  

Turns out, there are now only 14,000 breeding pairs of African penguins, making this bird flu outbreak a severe concern among scientists. Not only this, but experts are now also predicting that this bird flu can soon spread among chickens and ostriches turning it into a worst bird flu epidemic in Africa in the recent years. It also has the capacity to have severe economic implications, as reported by the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds or SANCCOB in short.  

In case you were wondering how bird flu spreads, it usually happens through faeces. That is why rangers of SANCCOB in collaboration with South African National Parks (SANParks) are now on the lookout for sick birds so that they can be isolated and immediately diagnosed, thus restricting the spread among other bird species. However, the good news is, this particular strain (H5N1) of bird flu that has hit South Africa has zero to very low probability of transmitting to mammals. Interestingly, rangers who are on ground patrolling for affected birds have been ordered to wear protective gears so as to ensure that the flu doesn’t pass on to humans as well.  

Turns out, African penguins are part of International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list, implying that they are at high risk of extinction. So, even though a bird flu case isn’t all that worrying elsewhere, it could definitely wipe out nearly half of the remaining African penguins, pushing them further up the list. After all, they already suffer from lack of food to loss of habitat (thanks to climate change-induced collapse of ocean ecosystem), thus pushing them over the edge.