Falklands Conservation

Penguins Dying from Mystery Virus

Two hundred gentoo penguins and their chicks have died in the Port Stephens area of West Falkland from a mystery illness. The penguins appear weak and have wart like lesions predominantly on their feet, flippers and around the eyes and beak. Eyes may be enflamed with a milky covering over the front of the eye and a dry crusty excretion around the eye and in severely affected animals the eye may be protruding or alternatively completely closed if swollen lesions occur close to the eye. The more badly affected birds have lesions all over the body. The illness affects both chicks and adults. Birds with similar symptoms have been reported from New Island and Albemarle.

An infected penguin suffering from the mystery virus

Peter and Ann Robertson, who live at Port Stephens, collected two of the affected penguins, which were picked up by Falklands Conservation and sent into the Veterinary Department for diagnosis and autopsy. Gidona Goodman, a specialist in exotic animal medicine at Edinburgh University and wildlife vet at Edinburgh Zoo, who visited the Islands last year, is assisting the Veterinary Department and Falklands Conservation. Photographs and samples have been sent to the UK for analysis and it is hoped to have a positive diagnosis soon.

Initial indications are that this is an avian pox virus. If this is the case, it will be the first time that this has been reported affecting penguins in the Falklands and it is probable that there will be no resistance within the penguin population. Within resistant populations mortality associated with avian pox may be only 1-2 %, but in susceptible populations (such as the Falklands) mortality may be as high as 50%. Avian pox virus has occurred before in the Islands in 1962 and 1987 when it infected black-browed albatross.

Vectors such as animals, birds or infected meat/corpses generally transmit the virus, but tourists and visitors, researchers or landowners can equally carry it. Faeces will infect soil around the colony and any dirt or dust carried from the site on boots, clothing or vehicles will transmit the virus to new sites. Anyone visiting penguin colonies in the Islands is being asked to report any sick animals showing the above symptoms to Falklands Conservation.

Director of Falklands Conservation, Grant Munro, says that ‘although humans cannot catch the pox virus from birds, they can transmit it on clothing and boots. Boots, clothing and vehicles should be cleaned after visiting any colony and visitors should not move directly from one colony to another. Cruise vessels should us disinfectant footbaths prior to tourists disembarking and upon return.’

On remote islands such as the Falklands the introduction of exotic diseases can have catastrophic effects. In 2002 veterinarians from the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York, who own Grand and Steeple Jason Islands, took blood samples from black-browed albatross and gentoo penguins and tested these for a wide range of avian diseases. It was found that unlike seabird populations on the coasts of South America, the Falklands populations had no antibodies and thus no resistance to the tested diseases. This means that birds may suffer heavily if or when diseases are introduced. Serious outbreaks have occurred in other sub-Antarctic islands notably avian cholera on Amsterdam Island and South Georgia last year and avian diphtheria in New Zealand.

Falklands Conservation is urgently pressing for confirmation of the cause of these penguin deaths.

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