H5 bird flu: Black swans, Monkey Mia dolphins and Tasmanian devils at high risk on Government’s ‘doom sheet’

Some of WA’s most iconic animals such as the black swan and the dolphins of Monkey Mia face an uncertain future after appearing on the Federal Government’s “doom sheet” for H5N1 avian influenza. Quokkas, for instance, received a national risk score of “low”, but the risk to black swans was assessed as “high.” The Houtman Abrolhos lesser noddy, which nests on just three islands in the Abrolhos archipelago, had a national risk score of “extreme.” Camera Icon A black Swan by our Swan River, Matilda Bay. “Black swans didn’t seem to produce any immune response to H5N1 and all of those black swans died within a few days,” he said.