Avian Influenza Presents ‘Apocalyptic’ Threat To Wildlife Around The World
Massive die-off of elephant seals in Argentina due to avian influenza is latest indication that this dangerous virus poses an existential threat to global wildlife
Powerful strain of bird flu virus wipes out chickens and other intensively farmed poultry as well as livestock and even wild birds and wildlife globally. GETTY
Whilst humans were busy with the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s birds and wildlife were hit hard by a pandemic of H5N1 avian influenza.
“H5N1 now presents an existential threat to the world’s biodiversity,” warned Chris Walzer, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Executive Director of Health, in a statement. “It has infected over 150 wild and domestic avian species around the globe as well as dozens of mammalian species. The bird flu outbreak is the worst globally and also in U.S. history, with hundreds-of-millions of birds dead since it first turned up in domestic waterfowl in China in 1996.”
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