WELLINGTON, New Zealand: New Zealand has reported its first case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu after a migratory seabird found on a beach near the capital, Wellington, tested positive, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard said on July 15.

The case was found in a brown skua seabird. It comes after the virus was detected last month in Australia, the last continent to report it. The strong H5 strain has been spreading among wild birds and mammals since 2021, killing millions. It has also infected poultry and dairy farms, as well as some farmworkers.

Hoggard said in a statement that there was no sign of large-scale wildlife deaths or spread among wild birds in New Zealand, and that the virus had not been found in poultry.

Hoggard said New Zealand could see a pattern similar to that in neighboring Australia, where there have been 14 confirmed or likely cases of H5 bird flu as of July 15.

New Zealand has been preparing for the arrival of H5N1 and working with the poultry industry to develop biosecurity and resilience plans.

Hoggard said at a press conference that more monitoring and testing would be carried out, but overall the country would continue the same work with the industry as before.

Many of New Zealand's native birds are especially vulnerable because they evolved for millions of years without land mammals. This has left many unique species, including flightless and ground-nesting birds, with little ability to defend themselves against predators.

This isolation made them unique but also highly vulnerable to habitat loss and to introduced animals such as stoats, rats and feral cats. Many species are already endangered, putting them at serious risk of extinction if the virus spreads quickly.

Health officials have started a vaccination program for 300 key breeding birds from five of the country's most endangered species, including the flightless takahe and kakapo.

Hoggard said they tested the vaccine last year and saw no harmful side effects, but they could not be sure of its effectiveness because the birds had not been exposed to the virus.

Brett Gartrell, a professor of wildlife health at Massey University, told Reuters that he was worried bird flu could push some of the country's most endangered birds to extinction.

Gartrell said they were very worried about New Zealand's biodiversity because the country's birds had never faced anything like this before. He added that if the virus spread quickly in New Zealand, the country could face serious problems.