Unprecedented penguin vaccine program begins, but is it too late?

Wildlife officers in Victoria, Australia, are embarking on a large-scale, unprecedented effort to vaccinate penguins against a highly contagious strain of bird flu. The program focuses on saving the iconic little penguin colonies, particularly the world-famous population on Phillip Island, from a potentially catastrophic outbreak.

The H5 bird flu strain has been spreading rapidly through Australia, raising fears it could decimate the penguin populations. The urgency of the situation was underscored when a little penguin died from the virus just days before the vaccination program was set to begin. This loss highlights the critical nature of the timing for this conservation initiative.

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The Phillip Island penguin parade is something like 40 per cent of our business turnover.

The Phillip Island colony, home to the world's smallest penguins, is a major ecotourism draw, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and contributing millions to the local economy. A similar, smaller colony in St Kilda also generates significant tourism revenue. Private tour operator John Stapleton noted that the Phillip Island penguin parade constitutes about 40 percent of his business turnover.

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One of the challenges of vaccinating wild animals is they need two doses. In most cases, that's impractical and likely impossible for wild animals.

Government modeling had previously warned that the H5N1 strain could kill between 8,000 and 16,000 penguins on Phillip Island under a worst-case scenario. The penguins' habit of nesting and congregating in groups makes them particularly vulnerable to the rapid spread of bird flu.

The vaccination program is unique due to its focus on wild animals. Officials aim to vaccinate over 5,000 penguins across Phillip Island and St Kilda. A key challenge, as noted by Victoria's chief biodiversity officer James Todd, is the impracticality of administering two doses to wild animals. The program prioritizes penguins accustomed to human interaction and those with predictable movement patterns. Vaccinations will occur at night as penguins return to shore, where they will be corralled, vaccinated, microchipped, and then allowed to return to their burrows.

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It's a night-time operation. As the penguins come to shore, they'll essentially be corralled into an area where they're administered with a first dose of the vaccine and also microchipped, and then they'll be able to proceed back to their nesting burrows.