NEWS DESK
Parrots trained to home-in for their survival
School cuts 14 staff PENINSULA Grammar made 13 non-teaching roles redundant in a major staffing shake-up before this week’s resumption of the second term. The school has also abolished the position of deputy principal - wellbeing, held by Peter Ford. The cuts were foreshadowed last week by news that the Mt Eliza private school’s student numbers were being “greatly impacted by the global pandemic” (“School to cut staff as pandemic bites” The News 19/5/20). Principal Stuart Johnston said that he had “made the difficult decision to commence a staff consultation process that will potentially impact” staff numbers. The 13 jobs lost were four in the marketing department, seven in administration and two in property (school productions and events). “This has not been an easy process for us. For every one of these roles there exists a person whose dignity, and whose privacy, we will continue to respect,” Mr Johnston said in a letter to students’ parents on Friday (22 May). “The confidentiality of this process remains of paramount importance to us as a proud school community, and we will continue to protect this.” Mr Johnston said while the “decisions and departures are difficult, they have been taken to maintain and safeguard the school’s strong financial position and highest standards of teaching and education amid a crisis that is unprecedented in our lives”. Changes to the whole school structure in the past year had seen the “redistribution and refinement of all components and functions within the wellbeing portfolio”. Stephen Taylor
THIRTEEN captive-bred orangebellied parrots have been released in Western Port. This is the first time the critically endangered parrots have been released in the area and followed a two-month “training regime” in a large aviary. The training by Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park staff aimed to instill site-fidelity by daily calling the birds to a specially designed food station. The Pearcedale sanctuary’s director Michael Johnson said the release was made possible thanks to two environmentally dedicated landowners who allowed the aviary to be built on their property next to the parrot’s saltmarsh habitat. The release was part of the sanctuary’s commitment to the recovery of orange-bellied parrots in the wild, including breeding more than 180 birds since 2013. “The parrots responded extremely well to the training while in the aviary,” the Pearcedale sanctuary’s life sciences manager Lisa Tuthill said. “We consulted several international and local animal behaviourists to tailor a program for the parrots and we are thrilled with how the pre-release training progressed.” The time spent in the release aviary also gave the parrots exposure to environmental elements such as wind and rain, and awareness of birds of prey flying overhead, calling and perching in trees. “Initially, the parrots reacted with confused and random flight when a bird of prey such as a goshawk ap-
Orange-bellied parrots are one of just three migratory parrot species in the world, with fewer than 50 individuals being recorded in recent years as returning annually to breed in Tasmania.
proached the aviary,” Ms Tuthill said. “However, quite quickly, the parrots learnt to camouflage themselves on the grass in the aviary whenever a bird of prey appeared, so the training will help them survive better in the wild.” Tracking devices were fitted to selected birds from the group their release by staff from the sanctuary and Zoos Victoria. The devices included GPS solar-powered satellite tags VHF transmitter tags.
Since their release, some of the parrots have been seen feeding on saltmarsh such as beaded glasswort, roosting in mangroves and also interacting with blue-winged parrots. “The orange-bellied parrots that have been observed daily since the release are using the landscape just as we had hoped,” the sanctuary’s avian threatened species coordinator Ashley Herrod said. “We are excited at the prospect of naturally-migrating
parrots arriving in Western Port and joining up with the released birds, which is one of the main aims of the broader project.” The four-year orange-bellied parrot mainland release trial aims to establish the parrots in suitable habitat in Victoria and attract naturally migrating orange-bellied parrots to these sites. It is a joint project led by DELWP and Zoos Victoria. Keith Platt
RESPIRATORY CLINIC NOW OPEN FOR
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To make an appointment register on HotDoc.com or phone
0436 033 507 Patients MUST stay in the car and call clinic on arrival. The aim of this clinic is to assess and test people with mild to moderate symptoms of a respiratory illness. This includes anyone in the health care industry, aged care, supermarket/food service, or construction workers with or without the following symptoms: • Cough • Fever • Runny or Stuffy nose • Sore throat This clinic aims to divert people away from hospitals and other GP Clinics to enable them to attend to other medical issues.
1079 Point Nepean Road, Rosebud PAGE 6
Western Port News 27 May 2020