Lain Duong, Terry Cotter, Shem Fernando, Shirley Preza, Mark Cotter, Krystal McKenna and Kirsty Mullins were eager to help the conservation centre.
Camera IconLain Duong, Terry Cotter, Shem Fernando, Shirley Preza, Mark Cotter, Krystal McKenna and Kirsty Mullins were eager to help the conservation centre. Credit: Supplied/Marcelo Palacios

Willing hands helped centre

Staff ReporterCanning Gazette

More than 100 employees from Ernst & Young in Perth rolled up their sleeves and spent the day mulching, shifting rocks and landscaping at the centre recently.

Centre manager Phil Digney said it was going through a strong growth phase and was hoping to hold guided tours by the end of October, which meant the restaurant area and eco trail were in need of an upgrade.

‘As a not-for-profit organisation, we simply cannot afford to pay contractors to do a lot of the site upgrades and improvements. Volunteers achieve more in a day than the normal paid staff because they are all so busy,’ Mr Digney said.

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‘The EY day has been a huge leap forward in terms of being ready to open in October. Alcoa generously funded the revegetation works and Volunteering WA helped organise the day. In the end it has all been about community support for the rapidly declining black cockatoos,’ he said.

The rescue, rehab and release of 300 black cockatoos a year is the main platform for the centre, but it is also expanding the breed-for-release program and has several research projects under way with Murdoch University, involving satellite tracking of released cockatoos.