Key fobs help Critically Endangered cockatoo

20/11/2018

The creation of hand-stitched key fobs is helping prevent the extinction of the endemic Red-vented Cockatoo. The parrot – known colloquially as Philippine Cockatoo – is classified as Critically Endangered and has suffered a huge and rapid population decline due to the loss of its lowland habitats, as well as illegal trapping for trade. To reverse its fortunes, Loro Parque Fundación (LPF) has supported the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Program (PCCP) since 1999, which uses Philippine Cockatoo as a flagship species for biodiversity conservation. This year, PCCP engaged local people by providing training for sewing skills so that handmade key fobs depicting the cockatoo, as well as other Philippine wildlife, could be made.

The 'Sewing for a Cause' training took place in Puerto Princesa City, encouraging local people to raise awareness and help conserve Philippine Cockatoo and its habitat on the island of Palawan. Training was first given to women's groups from Puerto Princesa City and Narra, a region that includes Rasa Island, a key site that holds up to 40 per cent of the wild population of Philippine Cockatoo. A second round of training was given to inmates from the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa City, taking place inside a medium security compound.

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Extremely rare bird is born at Bristol Zoo…with a face only its mother could love

Joe Mellor

July 30, 2017

Extremely rare bird is born at Bristol Zoo...with a face only it's mother could love 

An extremely rare bird has been born at a UK zoo for the first ever time — with a face only its mother could love.

The Philippine cockatoo chick, which has not yet been named, hatched last week weighing a tiny 0.207 lbs.

But the chick quickly became a contender for the ugliest bird in the world with its saggy, featherless skin and crusting, undeveloped beak.

It will, however, find comfort in the fact that one day he will grow up to be a beautiful white bird, with bright orange and yellow tail feathers on its underside.

This extremely rare chick has been hatched at Bristol Zoo Gardens for the first ever time.

The chick’s arrival at Bristol Zoo gardens is particularly significant because the breed of bird is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list.

The critically endangered species has seen a rapid population reduction owing to extensive loss of its lowland habitats and trapping for the cagebird trade.

The chick’s family is now being kept under close surveillance because the parents have never reared any young before.

Its parents were brought to Bristol Zoo in 2004 and have since divided their time between there and the Wild Place Project near Cribbs Causeway.

Bristol Zoo Gardens team leader of birds, Trevor Franks, said during his ten years at he had only previously seen one egg from this pair of Philippine cockatoos – and that had been broken.

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Cockatoos Get Protection to Curb Illegal Pet Trade

By RAMONA YOUNG-GRINDLE 

WASHINGTON (CN) - Three species of cockatoos have received final listing status under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Philippine cockatoo and the yellow-crested cockatoo are listed as endangered, while the white cockatoo is listed as threatened.

Because the white cockatoo is listed as threatened, the USFWS has also issued a special rule for that species under the ESA to allow import, export and interstate commerce of the birds without a permit if they are captive-bred or already in captivity at the time of listing, as long as those activities were in compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Wild Bird Conservation Act, according to the agency's press release. The ESA's special rule clause is not applicable to species listed as endangered.

The Friends of Animals (FOA) petitioned the USFWS to list the cockatoos and 11 other parrot species in 2008. In 2010, the FOA and the WildEarth Guardians sued the agency for failure to issue a 12-month finding on the petition. A 2010 settlement agreement outlined a timetable for determining listing status for the species and the three cockatoos were proposed for listing in August 2011, according to the action.

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Coal plant in Palawan poses threat to endangered Philippine Cockatoo, group says

By ROUCHELLE R. DINGLASAN, GMA NEWSMarch 6, 2013 4:50am

Is electrocuting the Philippine cockatoo, locally known as the Katala, the price Palaweños are willing to pay for charging their mobile phones and laptops?

This is the envisioned trade-off that the non-governmental organization Katala Foundation Inc. (KFI) worries about If a proposed 15-megawatt coal-fired power plant were to be built in the coastal barangay of Panacan in Narra town in southern Palawan.

The power plant's proposed location on the Palawan mainland is about one kilometer from the Rasa Island Wildlife Sanctuary, which harbors the critically endangered Katala as well as other threatened species like the grey imperial pigeon, the marine turtle, and the dugong.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/297850/news/regions/coal-plant-in-palawan-poses-threat-to-endangered-philippine-cockatoo-group-says