Twenty endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos rehabilitated after injury have been released into the wild at two Perth locations. Picture: Rick Dawson, DPaW.TWENTY endangered Carnaby’s cockatoos that have spent up to a year rehabilitating from car strikes and other trauma have been released into the wild.
The birds, which are endemic to Western Australia, were released from The Vines and Kensington last week.
Department of Parks and Wildlife officer Karen Smith said all the cockatoos had been hit by cars or suffered another trauma that prevented them from being able to fly.
They have been rehabilitated at the Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre in Martin and the Native Animal Rescue centre in Malaga.
“Each bird is assessed prior to release and we are confident they will make a smooth transition back into the wild,” Ms Smith said.
“It’s exciting to see these iconic Western Australian birds take flight and hopefully rejoin existing wild flocks.”
One of 20 Carnaby’s cockatoos released after injury takes flight at The Vines last week. Picture: Karen Smith, DPaW. The cockatoos have been microchipped and tagged with leg bands so they can be monitored, and DNA samples have also been taken.
Numbers of Carnaby’s cockatoos have declined from 150,000 to between 20,000 and 60,000 in the past 50 years.
The Department warned last month that 85 of the birds had been killed on WA roads because they were eating grain spilt from road trains.
More than 120 cockatoos have been rehabilitated and released into the wild since 2010.