00:02These playful pups bring hope for the future of the endangered Australian sea
00:07line. But as another pupping season gets underway off Kangaroo Island there are
00:13fears the spread of bird flu could devastate the iconic species. This could
00:17be looking at extinction level events particularly for our local populations.
00:22Those fears fueled by the discovery of a long-nosed fur seal suspected to have
00:27contracted H5 bird flu on the Pages Islands of KI key breeding sites for the
00:33sea lions. Once it is in our mammal species it can easily transfer between
00:38mammal to mammal. Thankfully at this stage we haven't got any evidence that there's
00:42really significant impacts on the seals and sea lions. I think unfortunately that
00:46probably means we've just picked this up very early. There are fewer than 10,000
00:49Australian sea lions in the country. Already affected by SA's algal bloom and
00:54issues like hookworm, bird flu is another looming threat for the unique species here
00:59on Kangaroo Island. The SA government is now eyeing a vaccine being trialed on
01:04cattle in the United States to see if it could also protect Australian seals and
01:09sea lions against bird flu. That's something that we're monitoring but as it
01:13stands there isn't yet a vaccination that is registered that is deemed to be
01:16safe for Australian seals or sea lions. But there is one for other animals. These
01:23little penguins on Phillip Island getting their first dose of an H5N1 vaccine as
01:29the number of confirmed bird flu events in Australia climbs to more than 300.
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