Save the most fat parrot in the world: can New Zealand vaccinate its rare species before the bird flu reachs them? | Global development

IIt is easy to imagine how it could happen. A petrel, flying east of the Indian Ocean at the end of the southern winter, is put on the ground on the island of the southern cod of New Zealand / Whelua Hou. Tired of his long journey, the Petrel is looking for a refuge in the burrow of a green kākāp: a species without critical flight of extinction which is the most serious parrot in the world.

If the sea oiné descends when the Kākāpō is ready to reproduce, the male parrot can try to mate with the smallest petrel, accidentally stifling it in the process.

In this case, there are two involuntary victims. The Petrel houses a mortal agent: H5 Avian Fluency. Shortly after, the bird flu began to tear the population of parrot in danger, pushing the bird in dunch – which has less than 250 individuals – to extinction.

This is the kind of scenario that New Zealand environmentalists are considering before the arrival of the spring migration season – as they have done for two years for a very pathogenic strain of the bird flu known as H5N1 began to burn global fauna, stimulating the greatest sudden decrease in the world’s bird population during the decades.

Tens of millions of wild birds have succumbed to H5 in the world, but so far, Oceania has managed to prevent the virus from going out – from buying time for New Zealand to add another weapon to its arsenal before thousands of birds arrive from distant ribs.

In August, the country’s Ministry of Conservation announced the completion of a first global research test showing that some of its rarest birds could be successfully vaccinated and safely against the bird flu.

Effort is the last in a global push to protect wildlife – not just cultivated poultry – of the virus, which has also inflicted spectacular mass deaths among elephant seals, fur seal and sea birds around the world. For these species already flickering on the verge of extinction, vaccination could be a gamechanger.

New Zealand is home to nearly 100 species of birds found anywhere else in the world. In the past year, the department has vaccinated up to 10 captive birds of five species in critical danger of extinction which have 500 people or less – the Kākāpō, Takahah, Kakī (black exchange), the Tūuruatu (Plovier à Terre) and a type of Kākāriki.

The program, using the H5N3 poultry vaccine, is the first to vaccinate so many species at the same time. After receiving two doses, one month apart, from the approved poultry vaccine, scientists found that four species had formed a strong response of antibodies to the virus which lasted at least six months.

“These species depend on captive farming,” explains Kate Mcinnes, fauna veterinarian and the main scientific advisor of the department. Vaccination, she says, could protect basic reproductive populations in the aviaries used to replenish wild populations on the edge of survival, as well as Kākāpō populations managed on the offshore islands.

The next step is to build a deployment strategy before the migration of spring, when the outstretched sea birds could introduce the virus. “You can’t just run in the forest and catch everything and have it browse,” explains Mcinnes. “You must have a very carefully planned program in place.”

Other countries look closely at the attempt. Australia is in close contact with New Zealand officials on the results of the vaccine, and manages its own trials using standing species – animals similar to critical extinction species but do not endanger themselves – according to Fiona Fraser, Australian commissioner for endangered species.

“It is more and more worrying that the migratory bird season is just at our door,” she said. Tens of millions of birds are expected to arrive in Australia in the coming weeks.

Last year, the Australian government announced that it would allocate $ 100 million (48 million pounds sterling) to prepare for the bird flu, including $ 2.8 million specifically to protect the captive populations of threatened species.

“Having this additional time for our region to understand what have been the impacts abroad and relying better for Australian species, has been extremely important,” explains Fraser. “We expect it to be a question of if, but when the bird flu arrives in Australia. Because now that he circulates in Antarctica, we are essentially surrounded. ”

Vaccination, she says, is only a small part of the strategy. The country focuses on the planning of species considered particularly vulnerable to avian flu, such as the native Australian sea lion and the Tasmanian devil, an endangered treasure that could feed on the carcases of infected birds.

The stimulation of the overall health of wild populations to help them resist the possible arrival of avian flu is priority, she says.

“Vaccinations can be stressful for wild animals and this cannot be as possible as taking other measures such as improving their habitat,” said Fraser.

Australia’s policy on vaccination echoes broader world vision. Animals traveled for conservation purposes are rare, although some programs have been set up to immunize koalas against chlamydia; Vaccina of Ethiopian wolves against canine disease disease; And develop a Western Nile vaccine to protect birds disappearing in Hawaii.

The World Animal Health Organization noted in a report by the 2023 Committee on the emergency vaccination of wild birds that it would be difficult to vaccinate wild populations against avian flu with the strategies currently available.

“There is so much logistics that comes into play,” said Krysten Schuler, ecologist of fauna diseases at Cornell University in New York State. The capture and recovery of wild animals for several doses is difficult and costly, especially for species that have a short lifespan.

However, when 21 California Condors died of avian flu H5 in 2023, the US government ran to intervene. About 20 million dollars (15 million pounds sterling) in federal and state funding have been devoted to the conservation of the vulture in critical danger of extinction to date, which makes it one of the most expensive American conservation projects in history.

Scientists first conducted trials of a H5N1 poultry vaccine on 20 black vultures and 20 captive condors. “We knew that it was going to have a certain international relevance – people were going to look at him,” said Todd Katzner, the US Geological Survey fauna and research coordinator for the Condor recovery program. “It was the first controlled test with a wild species.”

After finding that the vaccine gave an answer to the successful antibodies without harmful effects, the government has approved an emergency vaccination campaign. In October 2024, they had inoculated 207 condors, including 134 “flying” birds.

An additional challenge, says Katzner, is that the trial vaccine used to browse condors was based on a 2014 avian influenza strain. “When they build human vaccines, there is a huge economic engine to encourage them to stay up to date,” he said. “There is no similar driver for bird flu vaccines, so you end up with outdated vaccines.”

Viruses evolve over time, which means that vaccines can be made less useful as the virus changes. However, “the general feeling was that a vaccinated bird will have better protection than a non -vaccinated bird,” said Katzner.

Some scientists express reserves on wild animals that are traveling. Viruses, they say, can quickly develop even more powerful strains.

“A great concern for fauna is an incomplete vaccination that would actually lead to a more viral development,” explains Schuler. “Especially for many of these birds, they could be exposed to several avian flu viruses. So, by inserting a vaccination process in there, does this have the potential to settle those who are more pathogenic-those who could be worse? ”

New Zealand wildlife authorities are planning to vaccinate its captive reproductive populations of critical birds in danger, as well as their offspring introduced to wild regulatory approval awaiting the emergency use of the vaccine. The time of the program depends on the evaluations of the moment when the virus is likely to reach the coasts of the country.

“If we start too early, we will lose this antibody because it will start to disappear,” explains Mcinnes. “But if we start too late, we might have missed the crucial moment.”