Bird Flu Funding Announced — AJP Says $150k "Nowhere Near Enough"

The Government has announced $150,000 in one-off funding for six wildlife care facilities to strengthen bird flu surveillance and help them care for native birds safely.

The Animal Justice Party Aotearoa New Zealand (AJP) welcomes support for the six facilities. But $150,000 in one-off funding is a token response to a threat that could affect all wild birds. It leaves the most urgent questions unanswered: who will respond when birds become sick or die, who will care for those that can be helped, and who will pay for it?

Earlier this month, AJP wrote to Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard calling for a funded wildlife response alongside the poultry programme. The party asked the Government to decide who will collect and safely dispose of dead wild birds, fund rehabilitation centres and volunteer rescuers, suspend bird hunting while H5N1 circulates, and provide independent oversight of the welfare of birds culled on farms.

“This funding is a good start, and the people caring for wildlife desperately need it,” says AJP Co-Leader Danette Wereta.

In its letter, AJP pointed to Australia’s federal commitment of $113 million AUD to its bird flu response, including $47.1 million AUD for threatened species and priority biodiversity. AJP estimated that, adjusted for population, an equivalent commitment in New Zealand would be around $24 million NZD. “We are not saying New Zealand needs to copy every part of Australia’s response. But $150,000 shared between six facilities cannot be the whole plan for all wild birds,” says Wereta.

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“There are still massive gaps. We don’t want this funding to become a plaster on a broken leg: helpful to the facilities receiving it, but nowhere near enough to deal with an outbreak across our wild bird populations,” says Wereta.

“If sick or dead ducks, swans, geese, gulls and seabirds are found across the country, someone must be responsible for responding. Wildlife hospitals and rescuers need the resources to care for birds that can be helped. The Government has made a start; now it needs to plan and fund the response.”

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