Australian state pushes penguin vaccination to fight H5N1

Authorities in the Australian state of Victoria have begun vaccinating 5,000 little penguins (Eudyptula minor) at several popular tourist locations to protect them from the H5N1 bird flu.

On Sunday evening (23/8), officers at the Phillip Island Nature Parks conservation area south of Melbourne administered the first of two doses of the H5N1 vaccine to their 1,000th little penguin under a programme launched earlier in August to protect the species’ population in Victoria.

The Victorian state government said it plans to vaccinate 5,000 little penguins on Phillip Island and in St Kilda, a Melbourne suburb, amid a surge in highly pathogenic H5N1 strain cases across Australia.

Phillip Island is home to the world’s largest colony of little penguins, estimated at 40,000 birds. The little penguin is a species native to Australia and New Zealand.

The island’s Penguin Parade attraction, which allows visitors to watch little penguins walk from the sea to their burrows at dusk, is one of Victoria’s most popular tourist attractions. In 2025, the attraction drew more than 700,000 visitors, with tourists from China accounting for 17 per cent of total visits.

Victorian Environment Minister Jaclyn Symes told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that vaccinated penguins will be recaptured in three to four weeks to receive a second dose.

“We know bird flu is here, we know we cannot stop it, but we want to make sure this penguin colony is in the best possible condition to ensure they are protected as much as possible,” she said.

A 2025 report by the Victorian Department of Environment estimated that an H5N1 outbreak among little penguins on Phillip Island could cause a mortality rate of up to 40 per cent.

The first case of H5N1 in little penguins in Australia was confirmed on Phillip Island on 15 August.