Esperance locals asked questions about how to protect their pet birds, cats and dogs from bird flu at a special community meeting in the south-eastern coastal town on Tuesday.

Three birds have tested positive for the H5N1 strain in the Esperance area since the first was discovered at Cape Arid National Park on June 19.

The national infection total on Wednesday reached eight after the virus was detected in a sample taken from a giant petrel found near Hardwicke Bay, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia.

DPIRD’s deputy director Mia Carbon said there was a lot of positive support and engagement from the Esperance community at Tuesday’s meeting.

“We had a good turnout of about 50 people at DPIRD’s Esperance community forum on Tuesday evening,” she said.

“People at the forum had lots of questions and were really keen to know how they could help and what to do if they saw a dead or sick bird.

“Our message is to avoid and not handle the animals and keep pets and children away, to record and take photos or a video and report to the emergency animal disease hotline on 1800 675 888.”

DPIRD has deployed water vessels and drones to survey the south coast, including recent water patrols to Figure of Eight, Observatory, Cull, Thomas and Charlie islands.

Dr Carbon said local surveillance had shown no evidence of bird flu transmission to local wildlife.

There have been more than 1100 reports from WA to the EAD hotline since June 19.

Of those reports, 186 have been prioritised by DPIRD for further investigation or testing based on the risk of H5 bird flu.

Dr Carbon said Esperance locals had questions about how to protect their pet birds, cats and dogs from the disease.

“We recommended doing everything you can to minimise potential contact with wild birds,” she said.

“This includes housing pet birds and making sure their food and water is not accessible to wild birds and being very strict with general pet hygiene and cleanliness.”