Source: Xinhua

https://english.news.cn/20220917/2690cddd28d347fca449c5ad2624ff06/c.html

Editor: huaxia

2022-09-17 23:22:30

JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) — Four cases of avian flu, or bird flu, were confirmed among the endangered penguins at Boulders Penguin Colony in Cape Town, News24, a local news website reported on Saturday, citing a clinical veterinarian.

As of Friday, there had been four confirmed cases and another seven suspected cases, said Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) management.

Once seabirds show symptoms of bird flu, they usually die soon afterward, News24 reported, quoting Dr David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) as saying.

The flu strain is the same as the one detected in seabirds in the Western Cape last year. That outbreak saw thousands of birds die in vulnerable colonies. Now, conservationists worry the same fate could await the endangered penguins, if no quick action is taken.

Roberts said that it…