Australia Races to Shield Little Penguins From H5N1 Bird Flu

Australia races to shield little penguins from H5N1 bird flu

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. It is the world's biggest single colony of little penguin…

Mass vaccination of little penguins begins

After the H5N1 virus, aka bird flu, was found in Australia, a mass vaccination program has started for the Phillip Island and St Kilda little penguins.

Experts set out to catch 5,000 of the world's smallest penguins to vaccinate them against bird flu

Capturing wildlife to vaccinate them is difficult, particularly because the bird flu vaccination requires they be caught twice, for two doses.