Illegal shooting of endangered black cockatoos in Western Australia

Carnaby's black cockatoo. Photo credit DEC.

Black cockatoos being persecuted

January 2009. Landowners in Western Australia are again being reminded of the consequences of shooting white-tailed black cockatoos, following the conviction of a Bridgetown man who shot the protected birds on his property last year.

The man was fined $3000 and ordered to pay court costs for shooting eight white-tailed black cockatoos in his orchard in February 2008.

The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) continues to receive reports of landowners killing the birds, both Carnaby's and Baudin's white-tailed black cockatoos, because of the damage to orchards and other horticultural crops. DEC Senior Investigator Rick Dawson said the birds are listed as a threatened species under State and Federal legislation and killing or harming them was illegal.

He said "During autumn and winter, the cockatoos tend to congregate in the Perth metropolitan area and the surrounding hills in search of food and this can give a misleading impression of the abundance of these birds. The flocks observed in the metropolitan area actually represent a large proportion of the total population of birds from a wide area of the State."

Baudin's cockatoo. Credit DEC.

"This has resulted in damage being caused to some crops," he said.

Permits to destroy the cockatoos are not issued by DEC because of their threatened status. However, several non-lethal orchard crop protection devices have been developed, with exclusion netting proving to be the most effective.

"Cockatoos do not like to sit on the netting or feed beneath it and there are many examples where the nets have been 100 per cent successful in protecting crops from parrot and cockatoo damage," Mr Dawson said.

For information and advice on measures that can be taken to help protect crops contact 9334 0332 or visit www.dec.wa.gov.au .

Anyone who has information regarding the shooting of the cockatoos is asked to report the matter immediately to a wildlife officer on 9334 0292 or 1800 449 453 after hours.