Intro Baron goba monu island off the New South Wales South Coast where 100 bird species can be seen flying in from around the world it's also a breeding ground for fur seals and home to one of the largest colonies of little penguins but all that could be about to come under threat in H5N1 every other continent of apart from Australia there's a strain which is the H5 strain which is a deadly bird flu strain and that is causing mass mortalities of SE birds and what we're very concerned about is that this could turn up in Australia at any point it's not a matter of maybe it happens it's a matter of when it happens at this point I think it is inevitable the h5n1 strain of bird flu is expected to reach Australia by Spring different to the H7 strain already here it's killed 650,000 seabirds in South America and thousands of a Del penguins in Antarctica experts Native wildlife are concerned that if the h5n1 virus spreads to Australia the effect on Native wildlife and precious ecosystems like monu Island Baron goba behind me could be devastating according to a recent study in the journal genome biology the h5n1 virus could make some native species locally extinct and if Eaton could threaten sea creatures such as seals sea lines and the ecotourism businesses built around them the seals play quite a Local extinction big part in our small time Community obviously yes we'll have um catastrophic Financial you know issues on small coasty towns however I think the larger concern is what's going to happen to the wildlife at the moment the Australian National task force government have not done the work to make sure that we've got pled so places like monu Island the invasive species council is calling for the establishment of a national task force bringing all Specialists together including vets zoos Fishers and the tourism industry make Government response sure that everyone is aware knows what to look for if this turns up and that we can respond quickly the Department of Agriculture fisheries and Forestry declined an interview with the ABC but said in a statement there is no way to prevent new strains of avien influenza viruses entering Australia through migratory birds in April the department helped publish guidelines for wildlife managers to deal with the virus but say site specific plans are the responsibility of individual jurisdictions there is room for more Federal uh policies like pre-done ahead of time just emergency plans pre-written what is the value of protecting it I mean it's priceless [Music]