BIRD FLU CRISIS:

MELBOURNE: Scientists undertaking the vaccination of Victoria’s famous Phillip Island penguins against bird flu have identified a completely new species of the marine bird totally resistant to the potentially life-saving medication.

Victorian Government scientists have begun a program to vaccinate about 5,000 of the tourist island’s estimated 40,000 birds of the species known as the little penguin.

Two rounds of injections against the H5N1 bird flu will be needed but already, just a few days after they started work, the team catching the penguins and administering the vaccine has struck trouble.

“The little penguins are accustomed to human interaction, being residents of a major tourist island, so our program of injections began very smoothly,” said the head of the immunisation team, Dr Anna Phylaxis.

“We were going great guns but then we started noticing something very odd. Some penguins began avoiding our vaccination team members. Some became quite aggressive and started screeching and pecking at some team members.

“We noticed something different about those particular penguins. They appeared to be very distinctive with what appeared to be tinfoil hats on their heads. (main picture)

“Perhaps, we theorised, they weren’t little penguins at all. Perhaps they were a different species, maybe a royal penguin, or a king penguin, or even an emperor penguin.

“But a local Phillip Island penguin expert dismissed all such possibilities and declared they were an entirely new species which he has named the sovereign citizen penguin.

“They remain very vocal and attack our vaccination team at every chance they get. Some have even taken to waving small Australian flags which tourists have obviously left behind.

“Fortunately – or even unfortunately, depending on your perspective – the local penguin expert says the problem posed by the sovereign citizen penguins won’t last long once the bird flu hits the island,” Dr Phylaxis said.

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