Fears for ‘gregarious’ local celebrity Sammy the elephant seal in Victorian bird flu hotspot

Seals and sea lions often communicate by touch and share spaces with wild birds, placing them at risk of infection from H5N1 virus Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Since H5 bird flu arrived in Portland, Victoria, the situation has been “pretty grim” with many dead and suffering birds on the beach, and the dilemma of how to dispose of the carcasses, according to local resident Lynn Murrell. But since the first confirmed case in a fur seal on Sunday at Beachport, South Australia – a two-hour trip over the border – people have been worried for their local “pet seal”, known as Sammy. “He’s a great tourist attraction. The locals love him. So, we’d hate to see him get the flu,” Murrell, the president of the Southwest Environment Alliance, a coalition of local environment groups, said. The male southern elephant seal had “kind of adopted the town”, frequenting the foreshore and port, and sometimes the community gardens. In recent weeks, the seal has been spotted near birds presumed to have died from H5N1. Victoria’s first bird flu case was detected in the town, in the far south-west