As more animals die as bird flu spreads across Antarctica, South Georgia explorer Ernest Shackleton’s grave is inaccessible because “the carcass of a dead seal blocks the way”..
The H5N1 virus has spread to 10 species of birds and mammals since arriving in the region last October, with five king penguins and five gentoo penguins recently testing positive on the subantarctic islands.. These confirmations follow reports of mass die-offs of seals late last year.
Racing journalist Astrid Saunders witnessed the disaster firsthand as she sailed around South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula from January 15 to 30, as the ship was repeatedly prevented from docking. “Every day they say we can’t land here because there are too many dead animals,” Sanders said.
The only place the ship could dock was at Gulidviken, home to Shackleton’s grave, the British Post Office and a museum, but no one was allowed to disembark. “We were not allowed to go to Ernest Shackleton’s grave because there were so many dead seals blocking the way,” she said. “The impression I saw was that there were hundreds of dead seals.”
Saunders said counting the deaths was challenging because it was difficult to distinguish between dead, sick and resting seals, but added: “There seemed to be a lot of carcasses on the beach…a lot of seal pups without their mothers.” They were desperately trying to Want to run away. “
Shackleton was buried on the island in 1922 after suffering a heart attack while exploring the Antarctic continent, and his grave has become a pilgrimage site for enthusiasts. Saunders said one man on the cruise wanted to read a poem on Shackleton’s grave, and another brought a special glass of whiskey to toast the explorer.
“There are definitely a lot of dead seals in South Georgia, especially around Shackleton’s grave,” said travel consultant Colette Engstrom, who was on the same cruise ship. Visibility was poor, she said, but “The reason we were convinced we couldn’t go [to the grave] Because all the seals – or many seals – died, people blamed bird flu.”
Sanders said many people on her cruise ship were unaware of bird flu and were not informed of its effects before traveling. “My dream is to walk among the king penguins, but I can’t do that,” Sanders said. “But no one wants to pollute the environment.”
A spokesman for Silversea Cruises said: “The South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands governments are temporarily restricting access to various locations to protect certain wildlife species in their fragile ecosystems. Our Antarctica, Falkland Islands and South Georgia routes will continue to sail as planned, We will stop at alternative locations or add additional Zodiac cruises or sea kayaking opportunities as appropriate. The safety of our guests, crew and the destinations we visit, including wildlife, is our top priority.”
Dr Norman Ratcliffe, a seabird ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who has conducted penguin and seabird research in South Georgia, said the observations of these seal deaths were in line with what researchers have seen in the area. The situation is consistent. “There is widespread death on the north coast of South Georgia,” he said.
In South Georgia, the H5N1 virus has been confirmed in seals, fur seals, Antarctic terns, wandering albatrosses and kelp gulls, according to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (Scar).
Gentoo penguin deaths have been confirmed at three different locations in the Falkland Islands, 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) west of South Georgia. Other confirmed cases have also been reported in birds such as the southern fulmar, mutated eagle, brown skua and black-brown albatrosses.
While Scar’s database does not provide data on the number of seals killed in the region, the H5N1 virus has caused mass die-offs of marine mammals before: In 2023, scientists estimated that the strain had killed more than 17,000 southern elephant seal pups in Argentina. , the mortality rate is as high as 96% in some breeding seasons.
With the island’s breeding season coming to an end, experts hope to limit the spread. “Macaroni penguins remain vulnerable because they gather in large numbers to moult, but then disperse into the ocean where transmission rates are lower,” Ratcliffe said. However, gentoo and king penguins are more common throughout the They may still be at risk as they continue to form communal roosts or breed separately during the winter. “
Researchers have previously warned that if bird flu spread to remote Antarctic penguin colonies, it would be “one of the greatest ecological disasters in modern times.”
The current outbreak of a highly contagious variant of H5N1 (which began in 2021) is estimated to have killed millions of wild birds. The strain, 2.3.4.4b, has caused dramatic declines in bird populations in the UK, continental Europe, South Africa and the Americas.
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