The Tasmanian Government is investing 2.5 million dollars to construct and operate a new breeding facility to substantially increase the size of the Orange-Bellied parrot insurance population.
The new facility, which has commenced construction at Five Mile Beach in Tasmania, aims to double the number of captive-bred parrots available to release into the wild.
The current captive population sits at approximately 500 birds. In February, the Tasmanian Government announced that they intend to capture wild birds to improve genetic diversity in their breeding program.
The facility is expected to be in service by early 2019. Information and progress updates about the project can be found on the Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program Facebook page.
It is good news that the Tasmanian Government is investing such a large amount into the captive-breeding facilities and expanding the population. To be effective we need a captive population of 800-1000 individuals. The actual captive population as of April 2018 is 418 (no where near 500 as reported here) and the breeding population was 377 (it will be less by now).
Thanks for the comment, Mark. Is the 418 figure just the Tasmanian stock, or the combined total stock across Australia?