Over the weekend, 15 mature rehabilitated Carnaby’s Cockatoos were released into Yanchep National Park, which brings the total birds re-released up to a whopping 1000!
 
That’s 1000 birds that have been rescued, healed, rehabilitated, and returned to the wild for a second chance at life.
 

You might be aware that Perth Zoo treats hundreds of injured wild black cockatoos in need of life-saving surgeries and nurses them back to health. But their stop in the vet hospital is not where the journey ends, in fact, it’s just the beginning.
 
Passionate conservationists in WA pour ENDLESS hours of work into the collaborative program that gets injured Baudin’s Cockatoos, Carnaby’s Cockatoos and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos back into the wild.
 
Once injured birds have been treated at the Zoo, they are taken to a rehabilitation facility, either Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre or Native Animal Rescue to start the rewilding journey. For some birds, it can take years before they are fit and healthy enough to be safely returned to the wild!
 
When they’re nearly ready to graduate from rehab, conservation scientists from DBCA place a unique ID band on each bird so we can continue to track and monitor the birds if they’re spotted in the wild.

As endangered species, every single individual black cockatoo is incredibly important. We are SO proud to see 1000 of these native beauties flying free! Without this work, these beautiful birds would have been lost forever.
 
This conservation achievement is only made possible thanks to collaboration between Perth Zoo, the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions, Kaarakin, Native Animal Rescue, Murdoch University and countless volunteers.
 
Find more information about the incredible people behind this milestone here.