The H5N1 bird flu virus that devastated South America’s elephant seal populations has been confirmed in seals at California’s Ano Nuevo State Park.
Researchers from UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz made the announcement Wednesday. The virus has ravaged wild, commercial and domestic animals across the globe and was found in seven weaned pups.
The confirmation came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
Death toll numbers were not provided, although a press release sent out by the UC Davis noted at least some animals had succumbed. In most wildlife cases, carcasses and tissue samples are sent to the USDA for confirmatory testing.
“This is exceptionally rapid detection of an outbreak in free-ranging marine mammals,” said Professor Christine Johnson, director of the Institute for Pandemic Insights at the University of California, Davis’ Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. “We have most likely identified the very first cases here because of coordinated teams that have been on high alert with active surveillance for this disease for some time.”