Canberra Wildlife Reserve Prepares for Avian Flu Threat to Endangered Quolls
Wildlife officials are implementing a critical preparedness plan at Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve, constructing specialized quarantine facilities to safeguard a vulnerable population of eastern quolls. The move comes amid growing concerns that the H5 strain of avian influenza could pose a significant threat to the endangered marsupials.
A Proactive ‘Insurance Policy’
The eastern quoll, a species that has faced extinction on mainland Australia for over six decades, has found a refuge in Mulligans Flat, with an estimated 200 individuals residing there. However, their natural foraging habits, which include consuming sick or deceased birds, place them at a heightened risk should bird flu reach the Australian Capital Territory. To mitigate this potential devastation, 16 quarantine pens are being erected within the reserve.
Jason Cummings, Chief Executive of the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust, described the quarantine pens as an essential “insurance policy.” He explained, “We have such small populations of these endangered species that it’s a significant risk that they could negatively impact the population. We would expect the eastern quoll population to decline in the sanctuary, but hopefully not go extinct again here.”
The strategy involves temporarily relocating a portion of the quoll population into these secure enclosures. Once the threat of avian flu has passed, these individuals would be released back into the reserve to help re-establish and bolster the local numbers.
Addressing Unique Quoll Behavior
The logistics of housing quolls in quarantine present unique challenges, as Dr. Cummings noted their anti-social tendencies, particularly during their breeding season. “Eastern quolls are tricky to keep together because at different stages of their lifestyles they fight with each other,” he stated. “So depending on what time of the year we might bring some in, that’ll determine how many we can bring in and how we locate them together and keep them together and look after them through time.”
Dean Maxworthy, Mulligans Flat wildlife project manager, detailed the robust construction of the pens. “We will have a skirt that sits … underneath the ground so when they dig down … they’ll hit that skirt and hopefully won’t keep on digging into the other side,” he said, emphasizing the need to prevent escapes. Daily welfare checks will be conducted for the quarantined animals.
To prevent boredom and stress in the enclosed animals, enrichment activities will be provided. “They are technically wild quolls, so we’re going to have to keep an eye on them and make sure they’re not going too stir crazy,” Mr. Maxworthy commented. “But they’re going to have lots of little hidey holes and stuff as well. We’ve got a bunch of hollows and stuff that we’re going to put inside there and create them some really cool little dens so that they feel as safe as they possibly can inside the enclosures.”
Contingency Planning for Food Supplies
Preparations also extend to ensuring a stable food supply. Dr. Cummings confirmed that the sanctuary is building a stockpile of food, including chicken, rabbit, and kangaroo meat, to feed the quarantined quolls. This contingency is in place in case the poultry industry is impacted by bird flu outbreaks.
The decision to initiate quarantine measures will be based on specific trigger points, with a watchful eye kept on the unfolding situation nationally. “It [H5 bird flu] is not going to get here overnight … but we’ll keep an eye on the records,” Dr. Cummings said. “If it gets into New South Wales or it gets to our coast, that’ll take us to the next level of preparedness and that’s when we might start thinking about going and bringing some in. So it’s a process, watching and learning as it unfolds around the country, and then we’ll be looking to take action before it gets to us in Canberra.” The sanctuary is currently in a monitoring phase, awaiting further developments before enacting the full quarantine protocol.
