Australia has long relied on volunteers and wildlife carers. As bird flu spreads, they will need support
Australia had years to prepare for the arrival of bird flu. The deadly, highly transmissible H5N1 strain emerged in late 2020 in Asia, before spreading to every other continent bar Australia.
After the first case was confirmed in Western Australia on June 19, federal Environment Minister Murray Watt claimed the nation was well prepared. Preparations include A$47 million of on-ground action such as improving habitat and controlling introduced species, as well as boosting surveillance. The virus is now spreading domestically, with mass mortality events being detected.
What the arrival of bird flu shows is how reliant conservation in Australia is on volunteers. Early on, the first people responding to sick birds were often volunteers and wildlife carers – even though authorities have consistently asked the public to “avoid, record and report” any sick or dead animals. Wildlife carers in Western Australia called for help and protective gear after finding themselves on the frontline. The WA government is now distributing PPE.
As the virus spreads, nursing sick birds and animals is no longer possible for volunteers. We will need these volunteers to report sightings and support injured wildlife. They will need support.
Why is Australia so reliant on volunteers?
Australia is wealthy and has a huge variety of species. Almost half the economy has a moderate to very high reliance on nature. But spending on conservation is very low.
There is no doubt that conservation is financially stretched in Australia. The Biodiversity Council estimates spending for on-ground programs is just 0.06% of the federal budget.
Because conservation has been underfunded for many years, much of the work has fallen to volunteers.
In 2019, researchers estimated Australia had over 20,000 volunteer wildlife carers, each of whom spend an average of $5,300 of their own money on food and equipment annually (about $100 million in total). On average, each volunteer put in 32 hours a week. If we were to pay minimum wage for their time, it would cost over $1 billion.
It was no surprise that volunteers would form a critical part of Australia’s response to bird flu, alongside official preparation.
In South Australia, not-for-profits and volunteers partnered with the state government to create a distributed surveillance network.
Australia’s largest wildlife carer organisation, WIRES, has mobilised its network of 4,000 volunteers nationally to focus on surveillance of sick animals.
What role do volunteers have?
Much of our wildlife care is conducted by volunteers, not-for-profit groups, or vets working pro bono, who are already “operating in crisis mode”.
There’s a clear gap between the official advice to avoid contact with any sick animal and Australia’s long reliance on volunteers to care for wildlife.
In July, volunteers spoke out over concerns this advice could mean many animals go untreated out of caution – even those who have injuries or other illness.
In New South Wales, the official advice is that injured birds or animals should still be reported to wildlife carers – but sick birds or animals should be recorded and reported.
Bird flu can infect humans in rare circumstances, but it doesn’t jump from person to person.
Regardless of the small risk, volunteers should not have to risk their health to care for animals.
Authorities must provide the life jacket
The bird flu crisis is yet another reason a big increase in conservation funding would make sense.
But that doesn’t mean turning away from the work done by thousands of passionate volunteers and wildlife carers. They provide scale which can’t be achieved by professionals alone.
It would make sense to be more strategic in supporting volunteers. Directing a small amount of funding to support coordination of volunteers is incredibly efficient compared to paying professionals.
The key is to match requirements with volunteer capability. Replacing professionals with citizen scientists is clearly the wrong approach. But volunteers can do many tasks that give vital, useful data in the fight against bird flu. When partnered with professional scientists, their effect can be much larger.
To use a metaphor, we wouldn’t have “citizen pilots”. But we do ask passengers to put on their own life jacket because it’s easy and the pilot can’t do it for everyone. Likewise, non-professionals can do specific tasks with the right support (we provide the life jacket, they put it on).
This article’s author is involved in the Great Reef Census, which relies on volunteers to collect an enormous amount of data from the Great Barrier Reef through a simple photo survey. It’s not a replacement for professional monitoring. But it gets results because scientists deliver the technical components, while the volunteers provide the scale scientists can’t.
Which way forward?
As the virus tightens its grip, experts are calling for an urgent funding boost to give wildlife a better chance of survival.
Boosting the official response is important. But we also need to ensure Australia’s volunteer workforce of citizen scientists and wildlife carers are supported.
Volunteers don’t have to keep showing up. They give their time to causes they care about. As our recent study found, keeping volunteer citizen scientists engaged needs recognition and ownership of the project.
Realistically, Australia’s sheer size means any bird flu surveillance program will rely on a distributed workforce of volunteers reporting sightings, while scientists focus on technical aspects such as genetic testing or biosecurity measures.
It makes clear sense to support these vital volunteers as a way to strengthen both wildlife conservation and national biosecurity.
Wildlife Health Australia has detailed advice on what to do if you see sick, dying or dead wildlife. You can report sick or dead animals via the official Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.
Christopher Lawson receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program and the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water. He is an external scientific advisor to the Great Reef Census.
