Bird flu claims first Norwegian walrus

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CN) — A scientist from the Norwegian Polar Institute says that a dead walrus found in Hopen, an island part of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway, is the only known example of the long-toothed mammal dying from bird flu, reports the local newspaper Svalbardposten.

The walrus was first found in July 2023. A station manager took samples of the dead animal for the institute, which Monday said that an analysis conducted by the Institute of Virology at the University of Hannover, Germany, showed that it had found the virus in the walrus.

“The infection has most likely come from seabirds,” Christian Lydersen, a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, told the media outlet Svalbardposten. The walrus is known to catch and eat them.

“Last summer, tens of thousands of seabirds died of bird flu along the Norwegian coast. The infection also came to Svalbard in late summer, and hit seahorses hard,” Kit M. Kovacs, another researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, told Svalbardposten.

The case is just the latest mammal species to contract the virus, as an influx of bird flu has hit globally since 2020.

Birds around the world have died from H5N1, a type of bird flu that has been transmitted to cats, minks and foxes. Infections in cattle in multiple U.S. states are the latest concern, with a person in Texas contracting bird flu from livestock this month, health officials reported.

The World Health Organization has expressed concerns about the H5N1 outbreak, as more infected mammals increase the risk of spreading the disease to humans. The WHO indicated an “extraordinarily high” death rate, reporting 889 cases and 463 deaths by H5N1 worldwide from 2003 to 2024 — a fatality rate of 52%.

There is no apparent evidence that the virus spreads between humans, but the jump to mammalian populations does raise concern as the bird flu searches for “new, novel hosts,” the WHO said.

The infected walrus is not the only first of its species to have died from bird flu in the Arctic Circle in the past year. In January, a dead polar bear found in northern Alaska was declared the first of its kind to have died by the bird flu, according to The New York Times.

Scientists at the time were unsure how the polar bear contracted the virus but pointed to the consumption of infected birds as a plausible theory. While it’s the only case so far, it might not be the last — especially with new mammals dying of bird flu.

“The infection is transmitted via droplets and close contact,” Lydersen told Svalbardposten, that other polar bears will likely get infected with bird flu since they eat dead walruses.

Both Lydersen and Kovacs, who will share a lookout for possible bird flu and sick animals while doing research in the Arctic this summer, warn visitors in Svalbard against approaching dead walruses without gloves or other protective gear to prevent infection.

Follow @LasseSrensen13

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