Australia has been urged to stick to its guns and resist panic as a deadly avian disease arrives on the mainland.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected on mainland Australia for the first time, with a sick brown skua found on a remote beach near Esperance, about 700km southeast of Perth, confirmed to be carrying the disease.
The discovery has fuelled fears among scientists, conservationists and agricultural groups, who point to mass mortality events and species-level population reductions in overseas outbreaks.
"It's a really serious concern," UNSW Centre for Ecosystem Science ecologist Simon Gorta told AAP.
"But it's important to remain calm about this.
"There are absolutely measures in place to deal with this as best as we can, we've just got to stick to our guns."
