Dr Marco Falchieri, from the Animal Plant Health Agency said the current level of mortality is not normally seen in the population of seals.

A highly infectious form of bird flu has been confirmed for the first time in Antarctic seals, threatening one of the most fragile ecosystems on the planet.

Scientists working for the UK’s Animal Plant Health Agency (APHA) detected the variant of the H5N1 virus in samples taken from dead elephant and fur seals on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.

Dozens of animals are known to have died, with many more likely to have succumbed in remote bays and out at sea.

Experts at British Antarctic Survey told Sky News that the unfolding tragedy was a “mass mortality event”.