Sea lion's death from tuberculosis on Kangaroo Island prompts call for more testing ABC News Australia Article
An animal scientist wants more Australian sea lions tested for tuberculosis, after one of the creatures was found to have died from the disease on Kangaroo Island. The three-year-old juvenile sea lion was found dead on a beach at Kingscote in 2017, but the case was only reported in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases last week. Paper author Rachael Gray, from the University of Sydney, said tuberculosis had been detected in seals and sea lions around the world but it was rare in Australian waters. She said the Kangaroo Island case was the first time tuberculosis had been detected in a sea lion's abdomen, rather than its lungs, in South Australia. The island is home to one of Australia's largest colonies of sea lions which are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation. Dr Gray said while the discovery of tuberculosis in one of the animals was a public health issue, there was no "need to panic". She said the main threat to the public was from findi