H5 bird flu has been detected at two new locations in northern Tasmania, including the state’s first positive in a sooty oystercatcher.
A crested tern at Wesley Vale in the North West and a sooty oystercatcher at Kelso on the Tamar River both returned positive results in overnight testing.
NRE incident controller Wes Ford said the detections were not unexpected as the virus continued to spread.
The department has moved from reporting individual cases to reporting the number of affected locations.
There are now positives from 23 locations across Tasmania.
Ford said positive birds had been found from around Scottsdale in the north-east across to the far north-west coast.
“In all likelihood, that means we’ve got bird flu right across the north coast of Tasmania,” Ford told ABC Radio.
He said not every dead bird was collected or tested, so confirmed cases represented only part of the overall picture.
On King Island, a number of mortalities had gone untested, with positives confirmed at Cape Wickham and at the southern end of the island.
Ford said Tasmania should expect the virus to reach mammals at some point, after South Australia reported cases in seals and a dolphin.
“It’ll be a case of when this occurs, not if it occurs,” he said.
There have been no detections in Tasmanian poultry and chicken meat and eggs remain safe to eat.
The Department of Health says human infection is rare and the risk to people remains low.
People are urged to avoid contact with sick or dead birds, record what they see and report it to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.
