Bird flu in NZ: 'It could be any day now'

It is inevitable bird flu will come to New Zealand, given its presence in Australia, the biosecurity minister says.

More than a dozen cases of a deadly strain of the H5N1 virus have been detected in Australia since it arrived last month.

Infected birds have been discovered in Western and Southern Australia, and New South Wales, with another potential case found in Queensland over the weekend.

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard told Checkpoint there were many migratory pathways between Australia and New Zealand, and bird flu could also come through birds flying from Antarctica.

"It could be any day now, it could be a couple of months or so...I think the point is, that it is inevitable it will get here, it's all down to whether or not a bird happens to fly across a body of water with the disease.

"We're not able to specifically put that in the diary as to when that will occur, but it probably...it most certainly will occur at some point."

The Department of Conservation announced this month it would begin vaccinating some of the most critically endangered birds from H5N1 as a safeguard.

Hoggard said a farming support team has been working with the poultry sector and poultry farms on bird flu management plans.

Birds would need to be culled if the virus infected poultry barns.

"The reality is, that's something you're going to have to do, because you're not going to be able to re-stock your barn, or carrying on producing with the disease in your barn."

He was encouraging people to get in touch with MPI if they saw dead or sick birds - particularly groups of sea birds washed up onshore.

There had been an increase in those reports, but none had turned up a positive result yet.

"We've also been - for many years - testing along with Fish and Game, wild fowl, what diseases they're spreading out there.

"So there are systems already in place for monitoring both ducks, and our avian flock as well."

When asked whether he was concerned the strain would spread into cows as it had in the United States, Hoggard said that was a "one off".

"That hasn't been repeated anywhere else."

He said it was becoming clear that where large numbers of animals were congregating in one spot, there was a risk the virus could jump the species barrier.

In the United States, most of the cattle had become sick but recovered, Hoggard said.

The government would be putting messages out to farmers if bird flu arrived in New Zealand and was becoming a concern for the dairy industry, he said.

"I don't think we want to jump to worrying about everything. The focus at this stage needs to be the poultry industry."