Endangered cockatoo making comeback after bushfires
Endangered cockatoo making comeback after bushfires
13 May 2010
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — Hopes have risen for a critically-endangered cockatoo species on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
The Environment Department says two yellow-tailed black cockatoos have been reared this year – one on a farming property, the other at a wildlife park.
Ecologist Jason Van Weenen says, with only nine birds left in the wild and 14 in captivity, the program is vital to the species’ survival.
“The Eyre Peninsula population is unique, it is genetically diverse and … we’ve been trying to keep this population persisting,” he said.
“The little cockatoo that’s fledged this year in the wild is very significant because it’s the first chick that’s actually been raised on Eyre Peninsula since the Black Tuesday bushfires in 2005.
“They haven’t been able to successfully rear a chick for a long time so this is quite an achievement.”
