Panic in the world of bird experts, because the dangerous variant of bird flu (H5N1 virus) has broken out on at least two Galapagos Islands. It is feared that some of the rare species may not survive.
The Pacific archipelago is special because of the unique and colorful bird species that occur there. The blue-footed booby with its idiosyncratic mating rituals. Or the Galapagos cormorant – the largest cormorant in the world – which cannot fly. These are just two examples of bird species that only occur in the Galapagos; the islands that became world famous because Charles Darwin laid the foundation for the theory of evolution here.
Vulnerable
The islands, about 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador, are home to almost eighty species of native birds. “That makes the place so special,” says Thijs Kuiken, bird flu expert and affiliated with Erasmus MC. “There are dozens of species that only live there. That also makes those populations vulnerable. For example, there are still between two and three thousand specimens of the Galapagos Cormorant. Therefore, it is bad news that the H5N1 virus has reached the islands. This bird flu variant causes death and destruction, and there is fear that some species will not survive.”
Galapagos National Park staff tested five birds for H5N1 this week, three tested positive. “The number of sick birds is higher, because these are only the tested specimens. This concerns seabird species such as frigate birds and boobies. Wild birds most likely brought the virus from South America, not every bird becomes seriously ill and a distance of 1000 kilometers can easily be bridged.”
With the bird migration from North America, the bird flu virus ended up in Central and South America earlier this year. Hundreds of thousands of birds and marine mammals have already died. Kuiken: “In Chile and Peru alone, the authorities have counted 500,000 dead animals. The impact is major, which is why the situation in the Galapagos is being closely monitored. The two islands where the virus has been detected, San Cristobal and Espanola, are temporarily inaccessible. And if you want to visit other islands, shoes and clothes must be disinfected.”
Difficult to vaccinate
Wild birds cannot be controlled, so there is great fear among ornithologists that a battlefield is being created. “There is a vaccine against the virus, but it is difficult to vaccinate thousands of wild birds. The only species for which this has been done is the California condor in the US. There are only three hundred wild specimens left. They have been vaccinated to prevent this bird from becoming extinct.”
In addition to the Galapagos, Thijs Kuiken has another major concern: Antarctica. “The bird migration from South America to Antarctica has only just started, so there is a very good chance that the virus will also break out there. It has already been observed in Tierra del Fuego, the very tip of South America. So the question is not if, but when. If you consider that there are a hundred million breeding birds in Antarctica, you can imagine how big the effect will be if H5N1 strikes there.”
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