Bird flu confirmed in endangered Australian sea lion; scientists warn of potential 'carnage'

On a remote beach on Kangaroo Island, the discovery of a single dead sea lion has opened a window onto a much larger vulnerability. South Australia confirmed its first H5N1 bird flu case in an Australian sea lion — an endangered species numbering perhaps 12,000 individuals worldwide, three-quarters of whom live in these very waters. The animal had already been weakened by a shark wound, but the virus, not the wound, ended its life. Scientists who have watched bird flu hollow out seal colonies in South America and sub-Antarctica now watch this coastline with quiet dread.