{"id":38785,"date":"2026-08-26T03:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T03:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/38785\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T03:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T03:53:12","slug":"fears-for-gregarious-local-celebrity-sammy-the-elephant-seal-in-victorian-bird-flu-hotspot-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/38785\/","title":{"rendered":"Fears for \u2018gregarious\u2019 local celebrity Sammy the elephant seal in Victorian bird flu hotspot | Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since H5 bird flu arrived in Portland, Victoria<\/a>, the situation has been \u201cpretty grim\u201d with many dead and suffering birds on the beach, and the dilemma of how to dispose of the carcasses, according to local resident Lynn Murrell.<\/p>\n

But since the first confirmed case in a fur seal on Sunday at Beachport, South Australia \u2013 a two-hour trip over the border \u2013 people have been worried for their local \u201cpet seal\u201d, known as Sammy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great tourist attraction. The locals love him. So, we\u2019d hate to see him get the flu,\u201d Murrell, the president of the Southwest Environment Alliance, a coalition of local environment groups, said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email <\/a><\/p>\n

The male southern elephant seal had \u201ckind of adopted the town\u201d, frequenting the foreshore and port, and sometimes the community gardens. In recent weeks, the seal has been spotted near birds presumed to have died from H5N1.<\/p>\n

Southern elephant seals breed in large colonies but disperse widely to feed, migrating over 1,000 kilometres. Photograph: Victorian Wildlife Alliance<\/p>\n

Victoria\u2019s first bird flu case was detected in the town, in the far south-west of the state, at the end of July. Since then, the area has become a hotspot, with 17 confirmed events in crested terns, magpies, silver gulls and ravens, according to the federal agriculture department<\/a>, and many more suspected cases.<\/p>\n

People were concerned about the carcasses, and the risk of the virus spreading as a result of scavengers eating them. Some have estimated 30 to 40 new sick and dying birds on the beach a day.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Glenelg shire council said the situation was distressing for many in the community. They said the state government\u2019s advice was to leave the dead birds in place, although council had begun removing some where \u201cunacceptable public amenity or safety risks have been identified\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prof Rob Harcourt, at Macquarie University, said elephant seals like Sammy were \u201ccharacters\u201d and \u201cthe most gregarious animals you\u2019ve ever seen\u201d, which explained why communities named them.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n

Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n

Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Along with Sammy, a regular visitor to Portland, and Neil in Tasmania<\/a>, many others had gained notoriety, including Humphrey<\/a>, a three-tonne celebrity who frequented New Zealand coastal towns in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Southern elephant seals breed in large colonies, especially on Macquarie Island, Harcourt said. But because they\u2019re so large and need a lot of food, they disperse widely to feed, migrating over 1,000 kilometres.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re strong swimmers, but on land they \u201cmove along like caterpillars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Volunteer wildlife carers from western Victoria travelled to Portland last weekend to humanely euthanise sick birds. Photograph: Victorian Wildlife Alliance<\/p>\n

Seals and sea lions often share spaces with wild birds, placing them at risk of infection<\/a> from H5 bird flu. In Victoria, more than 100 marine mammals have been reported to the emergency animal disease hotline this month, although none so far have been confirmed as positive cases.<\/p>\n

Seals were also vulnerable because they\u2019re \u201cthigmotactic\u201d, Harcourt said, which means they love to lie touching each other. They recognised one another through \u201cnasal exchange\u201d. \u201cThey sniff each other\u2019s faces\u201d, he said; \u201cmothers recognise their pups by touching noses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Southern elephant seals, listed as vulnerable under federal environment laws, were at \u201cvery high risk\u201d of H5 bird flu, according to a national assessment. The deadly strain killed more than 13,000 pups<\/a> on Heard Island in 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n

Australian sea lions, listed as endangered, were a particular concern given their low numbers<\/a>. \u201cSea lions are like the labradors of the sea. They\u2019re friendly and playful, and they\u2019re curious,\u201d Harcourt said. \u201cI will be totally and utterly devastated if we lose them.\u201d<\/p>\n

With so many birds suffering, volunteer wildlife carers from western Victoria travelled to Portland last weekend, in a bid to humanely euthanise birds, which were being left to die slow, painful deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a Band-Aid over a bleeding wound,\u201d David Mould from the Victorian Wildlife<\/a> Alliance said. \u201cThis is not a solution. This is a couple of volunteers picking up the slack of what should be a major government operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decline is rapid. These birds can\u2019t fly. They have neurological symptoms,\u201d he said. \u201cThey lose their ability to walk, and they start staggering around having seizures. You see them with their wings splayed out to support them off the ground, until they lose even the strength to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since H5 bird flu arrived in Portland, Victoria, the situation has been \u201cpretty grim\u201d with many dead and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-38785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}