Tweet treat for bird lovers
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 14:55 
Fine feathered friend: One of the orange bellied parrots in its new home.DOING its bit to help save the endangered orange-bellied parrots, the Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park opened a new exhibit last week.
Designed to bring attention to the plight of these increasingly rare feathered friends, the exhibit houses seven parrots all past breeding age.
Their new home features the salt marsh habitat found along the coast of Victoria, including just 500 metres away by Western Port.
New roost: Michael Johnson with endangered orange bellied parrots in their new enclosure at Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale. Pictures: Daryl GordonMoonlit Sanctuary CEO and chief ranger Michael Johnson said there were only 38 of these birds left in the wild. "This makes them probably the world's most endangered parrot. One bushfire or storm could see us losing the lot. The idea of the exhibit is to provide community education about this dwindling species.
"People can get a better idea of their habitat and understand the importance of salt marshes, which are vital to the orange-bellied parrot."
He said the next step was to join forces with other groups and raise money to establish breeding aviaries so the offspring could eventually be released into the wild.
"The aim of the program is to get a population of 350 in captivity and make sure they are genetically stable, which is a long-term process."
Mr Johnson said the parrots' numbers probably started dwindling about 50 years ago.
"Once a species has started declining, it's hard to recover easily. They have been threatened for the past 30 years, so breeding and reintroducing them into the wild is very important."
Moonlit Sanctuary grew out of the childhood dreams of Mr Johnson, who was inspired by the British naturalist Gerald Durrell to create a place where people could experience rare and unusual animals that roam the Australian bush.
The sanctuary is home to kangaroos and koalas, owls, dingoes, reptiles, birds, wallabies and possums and successful breeding programs have included the eastern quoll, southern bettong, squirrel glider and Julia Creek dunnart.
Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park is at 550 Tyabb-Tooradin Road, Pearcedale. Call: 5978 7935.