By Nick Engelfried
Between November 2024 and January 2025, researchers in Antarctica found remains of 35 dead skuas (large predatory seabirds) that had no signs of injury or an obvious cause of death. The ominous discoveries prompted fears that the birds had been infected by disease–and subsequent testing confirmed one of scientists’ worst fears. Eleven of the dead birds tested positive for the H5N1 virus, also known as bird flu. The arrival of the highly contagious disease on the world’s most remote continent showed the degree to which the virus had become a threat to birds and other animals all over the globe.

In recent months, bird flu has made headlines in news outlets around the world, largely due to fears of the virus spreading to humans and the economic consumers have experienced as a result of higher egg prices. However, what’s often lost in discussions about the H5N1 virus is its devastating impact on birds themselves and other animals, whether wild or domestic. In fact, even as bird flu’s spread to human patients has remained limited, its effects on bird and some mammal populations have been far-reaching and deadly.

Like most viruses, bird flu spreads fastest in contained spaces where potential victims are packed together into tight quarters. Saliva, nasal fluids, and feces of infected birds can all spread H5N1, and domestic poultry are easily exposed in the inhumane conditions that are rampant on factory farms. So, it should be no surprise the virus has spread with devastating speed among factory farm chickens who spend their short lives trapped close together in tiny cages.

All told, a total of 18 million chickens and other poultry in the U.S. are estimated to have died from bird flu in December alone, largely in factory farms. In January, that number rose to 23 million new domestic bird deaths. And the virus has not stopped spreading.

The recent effects of H5N1 on birds and other animals in the wild have also been grim–partly because the current fast-spreading strain of the virus is different from other forms of bird flu we’ve seen in the past. Previous iterations of bird flu killed its victims quickly, meaning the virus had limited opportunity to spread among wild animal populations (the spread of the virus on factory farms, where domestic birds live in such close quarters that they can almost immediately affect one another, was a different story).

The current form, on the other hand, appears to have a slower effect on the creatures it infects. This means that a wild bird, for example, can become diseased and then fly many miles away, where it may infect other animals it comes into contact with. The effect can be particularly devastating for birds who nest in large flocks through which the virus can spread like wildfire. Some of the places where the impacts of the virus have been most visible are along the Peruvian and Chilean coasts in South America, where vast seabird colonies nest and raise their young every year.

Today’s strain of H5N1 is believed to have arrived in South America in 2022, when it first showed up in birds in Colombia and Peru. Soon after that, over 100,000 wild birds are believed to have died from the virus within Peru’s protected reserves–with additional untold numbers of deaths in other, less closely monitored areas. The disease also spread to marine mammals such as sea lions, dolphins, and sea otters. In 2024, an estimated 18,000 baby elephant seals were found dead on the Punta Delgada beach in Argentina.

Indeed, one of the worrying traits of the new form of H5N1 has been its ability to spread widely among certain mammals as well as birds. Some of the largest outbreaks have been among marine mammals, likely because of these animals’ tendency to come into contact with dead seabirds on beaches or offshore. However, other mammals have also been affected, including cattle, domestic cats, wild cat species, mice, and foxes.

Not all mammal or bird species are equally at risk from bird flu. Among birds, waterfowl, seabirds, and raptors appear to be some of the most at-risk groups, while songbirds are much less likely to be affected in large numbers.

For pet owners, bird flu’s propensity for infecting members of the cat family may be especially alarming. The virus is believed to have spread to pets and feral domestic cats from wild birds. Meanwhile, in January the pet food maker Northwest Naturals announced a voluntary recall of a batch of its Feline Turkey Recipe product, which contains raw bird meat that tested positive for H5N1. At least one tragic death of an indoor domestic cat in Oregon is believed to have been caused by eating the infected food.

Can H5N1 also pose a threat to people? The answer is yes, and in January the Centers for Disease Control reported the first known human death due to the virus associated with the recent outbreak in the United States. Around 70 human bird flu cases have been reported in the U.S. since 2022–a number that’s certainly concerning, but much smaller than that associated with other major disease outbreaks. Human-to-human transmission of H5N1 is difficult, limiting the virus’ spread mainly to those who work with domestic animals that might be affected. However, if the virus were to mutate into a form that jumps more easily between human hosts, the danger of widespread infection would increase.

Tracking the spread of bird flu would appear to be a matter of grave concern for both human and animal health. However, over the last couple months this task has grown more difficult in the United States as the CDC under the new Trump administration has withheld reports on H5N1’s spread, while the U.S. exit from the World Health Organization makes sharing information about the virus across international borders more difficult.

You can take steps to lessen the risk of exposure to bird flu for yourself and your pets. Keep cats and dogs away from bird carcasses, and avoid feeding them foods with raw meat. Maintaining your own and your pet’s vaccinations can also reduce the risk of being affected by the virus.

In the end, the rapid spread of bird flu illustrates the interconnectedness of human and animal life across the globe. It is a reminder that a healthy biosphere depends on containing disease outbreaks everywhere.

Photo credit: Pixabay

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Nick Engelfried Writes About Animals, the Environment, and Conservation for the ForceChange network