Save our last wild cockatoos from starvation
Save our last wild cockatoos from starvation | Conservation Council of Western Australia.
WA’s unique black cockatoos are suffering
Western Australia’s unique black cockatoo species are a state icon, yet these charismatic birds are now locked in a desperate fight for survival.
Each mature cockatoo must eat 100 large marri gum nuts or 1000 small jarrah nuts every day just to survive, but the combined impacts of logging, land clearing, recent bushfires and last year’s record drought mean that there is simply not enough to go around.
Many of these birds are so hungry they are being forced into metropolitan gardens in search of food.
With our cockatoo populations already on the brink of collapse, we have just heard some appalling news.
The State Government plans to target some of the last unburned high-conservation forests for logging, and the chainsaws are set to move in within weeks!
UPDATE: Logging has already begun in the Warrup Forest, 25km South East of Bridgetown. This is a critically important habitat for black cockatoos, numbats and many other rare native animals.
If we don’t act now to stop the logging of these areas, thousands of native animals will have their homes destroyed and the black cockatoos could be pushed over the brink into extinction.
One of the areas targeted for logging, Helms block near Nannup, is even home to a flock of cockatoos that were rescued and released into the area by the Department of Environment and Conservation! This area is also acting as a temporary refuge for a huge variety of species that have escaped from that district’s recent bushfires.
Forest areas like the Warrup forest near Bridgetown are not just a vital food source for the cockatoos, but are providing some of the last remaining refuges for our unique endangered mammals like thechuditch, quenda, and even our WA emblem, the numbat.
If we allow these beautiful forest areas to be logged, then there is a strong chance that we will lose our unique black cockatoos from WA’s skies forever.
By writing to Minister Marmion and telling him to stop destroying key cockatoo habitats, you will be helping to save a truly unique and beautiful icon.
