Bird Flu Kills Over 900 Seals, Sea Lions in South Brazil

A team from the Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Marine Megafauna at the Federal University of Rio Grande (ECOMEGA) collects organic material from a dead porpoise on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, during an outbreak of Bird Flu, in Sao Jose do Norte, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on Nov. 21, 2023. Diego Vara/Reuters

SAO JOSE DO NORTE, Brazil—Nearly 1,000 seals and sea lions in southern Brazil have died from bird flu outbreaks, say authorities, who are scrambling to isolate the deadly virus from commercial poultry flocks.

The southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul has confirmed an unprecedented 942 sea mammal deaths following infection by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which was reported for the first time ever in the South American country this year.