Phillip Island turns vaccination hub for penguins in Mark Knight’s toon

Phillip Island in Victoria is home to the largest little penguin colony* on the planet.

Every night as the sun goes down, these little seabirds come ashore after a day of feeding in Bass Strait and waddle up the beach like the D-Day invasion of Normandy* and head to their burrows in sandhills situated on the south west coastline of the island at Summerlands*.

There is great excitement among visitors seated in the viewing area, as they catch a glimpse of the first little penguins as they swim ashore through the surf at dusk. You will usually see a small group of about a dozen penguins tumble out of the surf, then another batch appear and before you know it, the sandhills are alive with these little fellas swarming all over the place. The amazing thing is they are all looking for their own individual burrow*. Some even make it over the sandhills, through the visitor centre and are found in the carpark.

So remember to lock your cars, people – we don’t want penguins ending up in Melbourne as stowaways in the back of the Tesla!

This nightly penguin parade is also one of the biggest tourist attractions in Australia. A million visitors attended the Phillip Island penguin parade last year, with the largest group being tourists from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the USA and Singapore. These penguins are tourism superstars – I reckon they should have little doors on their burrows with gold stars on them.

But due to the arrival of the H5N1 bird influenza*, these seabirds are in great danger. The virus finally reached Australia via Western Australia’s south west coast when wild seabirds brought the virus to the mainland and it has steadily spread across the continent through native bird populations.

Bird flu has not appeared in commercial poultry farms yet but the industry is making changes to farming procedures to try and prevent infections. The fear is that if it gets into the penguin colony, it could decimate* the population of our little superstars.

In the largest wildlife vaccination program in the world, Victorian Parks and Wildlife officers have decided to try and stave off a full blown bird flu epidemic* among our little penguin population by vaccinating them against the H5N1 virus.

Shouldn’t be too hard; we will just get them to pop down to the nearest vaccination clinic and get their jabs!

That thought did inspire me to draw a cartoon on how a penguin vax program might work.

I listened to a marine expert talk about how the penguins are creatures of routine, and every night they walk up the beach and head for the same burrow. This regular timetable would make the vaccination program a little easier.

Having their own homes also helps reduce the chance of transmission* of the virus through their community, because they don’t all huddle together in big burrows. Wildlife officers will reach into the burrows and grab each bird, give them their jab, then put them back – bagged and tagged* because they have to have two injections to reach immunity* levels.

In my cartoon, I imagined something more like our Covid vax centres from a few years back. I drew the cute little penguins in two orderly lines on the shoreline at Summerlands, heading to vaccination staff who are dressed in full PPE* administering vaccine doses.

As the penguins are given their shot, we see some of them rubbing the injection area on their flippers, not totally happy but nonetheless compliant* with the program for the good of the colony. Tourists in the background are witnessing something quite unexpected but interesting.

There is one difference between this penguin vaccination program and our human Covid one during the pandemic. At least we don’t see any anti-vaxxer* protester penguins holding signs and walking the other way!

POLL

GLOSSARY

• colony: in this context, a group of animals that live together and have settled a particular site or area
• D-Day invasion of Normandy: the day during the Second World War when the Allies began their invasion of Europe to fight Hitler’s Germany by attacking the coast of Nazi-occupied northern France
• Summerlands: specific coastal locality on Phillip Island, made famous by the little penguin colony
• burrows: holes and tunnels dug in the ground or sand by animals
• H5 bird influenza: a highly contagious and serious global viral disease of birds, poultry and some select mammals
• decimate: to kill a large number of something or to reduce something severely
• epidemic: a particular disease presenting in a large number of people at the same time
• transmission: act of spreading something, the process of passing something from one person, animal or place to another
• bagged and tagged: informal way of referring to record-keeping concerned identifying something or someone so they can be properly monitored or tracked
• immunity: being protected against disease or, in other contexts, from legal action
• PPE: a common sight during the Covid pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) and clothing protects people from health risks at work
• compliant: willing to do what other people want you to do
• anti-vaxxer: someone who does not agree with vaccinating people in order to prevent disease and its spread

EXTRA READING

What can be done to fight bird flu?

Cat curfews due to bird flu fears

Why washed up birds are a worry

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which Australian island has the largest little penguin population in the world?
2. In which body of water do these penguins spend their days feeding?
3. The penguins are in grave danger due to the arrival in Australia of which threat?
4. How are Victorian Parks and Wildlife officers trying to prevent an epidemic among the penguin colony?
5. How many tourists visited the island to watch the nightly penguin parade last year alone?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. National Science Week?
Why do you think that Mark’s cartoon is a good one to think about for Science Week? Write three reasons why.

Time: allow at least 10 minutes for this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science

2. Extension
Do you know how vaccines work? Use your research skills to find out. Use the information that you have found to create a flow chart, diagram or step-by-step guide to help other kids understand vaccines.

Time: allow at least 45 minutes for this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science

VCOP ACTIVITY
What happens next?
Imagine this story is part of an animated series made up of three cartoons. The three cartoons tell the complete story and this cartoon is only Part One. Think about what the rest of the story could be and draw the next two cartoons that tell the story.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking