Avian flu detected in elephant seal pups at Northern California beach
Avian flu has been found in seven elephant seal pups at a Northern California beach popular with visitors for spotting the enormous marine mammals.
Tours and beach visits at Año Nuevo State Park, on the California coast north of Santa Cruz, have been suspended because of illness among the seals, the park said.
The University of California, Davis, and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory announced in a Wednesday news release that seven pups at the beach have the highly contagious avian flu virus.
The outbreak is the first of avian flu in marine mammals in California and the first among northern elephant seals, officials said.
“The disease decimated populations of a related species, southern elephant seals, in Argentina in 2023,” officials said.
The “exceptionally rapid detection” was confirmed Tuesday evening after a team from UC Santa Cruz collected samples from ill elephant seals at the beach.
Avian flu was first found at a goose farm in southeast China in 1996.
“It was transmitted within the poultry industry for several years, during which it spilled over into wild birds and humans and then spread to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and later to North America, South America and, in early 2024, to Antarctica,” UC Davis said.
The current North American outbreak was first detected in Canada in 2021.
Año Nuevo State Park closes tours
Tours and public access to the elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park have been closed through March 1, the park said.
Full refunds are being issued to people with tour reservations.
“Most seals on the beach appear healthy,” park officials said. “Out of an abundance of caution, access is being paused to give wildlife space and allow for ongoing monitoring.”
The Marine Education Center, Horse Barn Movie Theater and part of the Año Nuevo Point Trail remain open.
The beach is home to an elephant seal breeding colony that reaches 5,000 animals during the winter months, UC Davis officials said.
About 1,500 were present on the beach when the avian flu outbreak began.
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Avian flu detected in elephant seal pups at Northern California beach."