Parrot
IN PHOTO: Volunteer Beverly Lewis feeds Quaker Parrots living in the Foster Parrots program at the New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary in Hope Valley, Rhode Island December 4, 2013. Filled with nearly 500 screaming, squawking cockatoos, macaws, parrots and a variety of smaller birds such as parakeets, cockatiels and love birds, Foster Parrots is thriving. It fields 900 to 1,000 calls a year from bird owners no longer able or willing to keep their pets. A longevity factor comes into play. Picture taken December 4, 2013. Reuters/Brian Snyder (

The Australian government is trying to take action to control a fatal disease that has affected orange-bellied parrots, the country’s most critically endangered bird species, ABC reports. There is a call for a boost in breeding parrots in captivity as a response to the outbreak responsible for their decline.

According to Threatened Species commissioner Gregory Andrews in his statement on Monday, the orange-bellied parrot is “right on the edge of an extinction precipice in the wild.” The government is determined to take action so the problem does not become worse.

The Neophema chrysogaster, or orange-bellied parrot, is one of AU’s most threatened species. Parks and Wildlife Service said in their official page that the bird only breeds in Tasmania, specifically in only one place in the region, the Southwest National Park.

ABC reports that there are now only less than 50 parrots found in the wild and most of the wild population has been affected by the beak and feather disease. Despite conservation efforts by the Tasmanian Government, Andrews said that the bird population was still infected.

Captive breeding programs for the parrot species started in 1986 and birds bred from the program were freed into the wild. Andrews also said that the birds from the captive breeding program were not infected by the disease and that the condition mainly came from the wild population.

Sydney Morning Herald reports that evidence of the beak and feather disease have been found in the south-west wilderness at the Melaleuca breeding colony about five months ago. The nestlings were found to have shed their feathers and were lethargic.

Andrews received the full scientific report on the bird outbreak last Thursday. To deal with the problem, the commissioner has proposed boosting efforts on captive breeding, disease screening program, review of the obsolete threat abatement plan and adjusting captive management to control spread of disease.

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