Identify signs of pests and diseases

Animals

Birds, livestock and horses may show one or more signs of disease. These can include:

• sores or ulcers
• excessive dribbling from the mouth
• diarrhoea, especially with blood
• large discharges from any orifice, especially the nose
• not eating properly or off their feed
• dramatic increases in production such as milk from cows or eggs from chicken
• non-responsive animals
• staggering or head drooping
• severe lameness
• swollen heads
• inability to rise
• unexplained deaths.

Notifiable animal diseases

Notifiable animal diseases are ones that legally must be reported to state or territory authorities.

Check the list of notifiable animal diseases. Be aware of the signs of these diseases.

See advice for vets:

• Hendra virus (agriculture.gov.au)
• Japanese encephalitis virus (agriculture.gov.au)
• Ehrlichiosis in dogs (agriculture.gov.au)

Emergency animal disease field guide

Our field guide on emergency animal diseases provides information on diseases that do not exist in Australia or that are rare.

See more

Use these resources to learn more about animal pests and diseases.

• Animal pests and diseases (agriculture.gov.au)
• Wildlife diseases (Wildlife Health Australia)
• Animal health surveillance (Animal Health Australia)

Plants

Plant pest or disease symptoms can include:

• plant death
• die-back of shoots
• failure of plants to thrive such as a reduction in growth for low production
• low germination rates
• yellow, black, brown or orange spots on leaves
• unusual markings or colouration on leaves or fruit such as yellowing
• leaf curling
• galls where insect/s have laid eggs
• early fruit
• sticky bacterial ooze on the surface shoots
• blossom blight where blossoms appear water soaked and turn brown and black
• fruit with insect maggots.

Notifiable plant pests

Notifiable plant pests are pests that legally must be reported to state or territory authorities.

Your state or territory department of agriculture or primary industries has a list of notifiable plant diseases.

See more

Use these resources to learn more about plant pests and diseases.

• National priority plant pests (agriculture.gov.au)
• Databases and training (Plant Health Australia)
• Fruit fly and the home garden (National Fruit Fly Council)

Invasive plants and animals

Invasive species are plants and animals that are found beyond their natural habitat. This is usually due to human activity. They pose a risk to our wildlife, native plants, natural environment and agriculture industries.

See how you can help manage the impact of invasive species:

• Types of invasive species and national action (agriculture.gov.au)
• Feral animals in Australia (dcceew.gov.au)
• Research on invasive plants and animals (Centre for Invasive Species Solutions)
• Advice on managing pest animals (PestSmart)
• Track pest animal activity in your area (Feralscan)

Weeds

Be aware of weeds to watch for:

• Weeds of National Significance (Atlas of Living Australia)
• Weeds exotic to Australia (agriculture.gov.au)

Aquatic animals

Our field guide on aquatic animal diseases will help you recognise diseases that could threaten aquaculture industries and fisheries. The guide covers 48 aquatic animal diseases.

See Aquatic Animal Diseases Significant to Australia: Identification Field Guide (agriculture.gov.au).

Marine pests

You can help stop the spread of marine pests.

See how to identify marine pests (Marine Pests website). This includes advice on what marine pests look like and where they are currently found. The page also helps you tell if what you’ve found is a pest or a local native species that may look similar.

Honey bees

Find more about:

• high priority exotic bee pests on the Plant Health Australia (PHA) website
• biosecurity and crop pollination on Bee Aware.

See more