Mass deaths of elephant seals recorded as bird flu sweeps across the Antarctic

Elephant seals on South Georgia. Hundreds of the animals, as well as fur seals, have been found dead, while thousands of sea lions have died in Chile and Peru. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Alamy

Bird flu is spreading in the Antarctic, with hundreds of elephant seals found dead, and fears it could bring “one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times” if the highly contagious virus reaches the remote penguin populations.

The virus was first reported among brown skua on Bird Island, off South Georgia. Since then, researchers and observers have reported mass deaths of elephant seals, as well as increased deaths of fur seals, kelp gulls and brown skua at several other sites. Cases have been confirmed 900 miles (1,500km) west of South Georgia, among southern fulmar on the Falkland Islands.