Experts have detected the bird flu virus in a dead polar bear for the first time. This is a further threat to the already endangered Arctic species, the New York Times reported based on the findings of Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation in December. The bear was discovered in northern Alaska near Utqiagvik. It remains unclear how many bears in total are infected with the deadly virus.
The bear shows how widespread the virus is now. “The number of reported infections in mammals continues to rise,” said Bob Gerlach, Alaska’s state veterinarian, according to the New York Times. The polar bear could have become infected after eating a dead or sick bird, Gerlach said. According to the New York Times report, infections have already been discovered in a brown bear, an American black bear and several red foxes in Alaska.
According to a study, there were a total of four major outbreaks of the pathogen from the H5 virus group after 2006. The ongoing outbreak is caused by a variant of the bird flu subtype H5N1. It led to the deaths of numerous seabirds – and also mammals – in the Northern Hemisphere, southern Africa, the Atlantic, the Pacific and South America. Since the end of last year, thousands of dead sea creatures have been found on the Pacific coast there, first in Peru and later also in Chile – such as pelicans, penguins, sea otters, seals and marine mammals.
Bird flu could cause environmental disaster
According to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), cases of infected birds have already been identified in Antarctica. “Bird flu could trigger a first-degree environmental disaster in Antarctica,” said marine biologist Ralf Sonntag from the environmental protection organization Pro Wildlife about the evidence in October.
Bird flu has also regularly plagued Europe for years. While the pathogen in connection with bird migration in this country in the past mainly occurred in the cold season, since 2021 there have been infections here all year round. Seagulls, terns and northern gannets were affected. Cats, foxes, martens, minks and seals also died. According to the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, people have only been infected in very rare cases.
