Moonlit Sanctuary has been looking after 14 wild Orange-bellied Parrots over winter, the first group were sent on their way back to Tasmania yesterday. The critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrots have spent the past eight months in our purpose-built ranching facility. The ranching project means the parrots don’t need to do the sometimes-arduous annual migration, and their release aims to boost the wild population leading right in to the breeding season. The birds passed all their vet checks and blood tests and were given a clean bill of health. We wish the Orange-bellied Parrots well on their journey to Melaleuca, Tasmania. The winter ranching project is a collaborative project between Moonlit Sanctuary, the Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program and Zoos Victoria
Moonlit Sanctuary won Gold for Tourism Attractions and Gold for Ecotourism at the Victorian Tourism Awards last night.
I have a picture of a wallaby that my wife took at Moonlit sitting on the shelf next to me as I type this. We still talk about our visit to your zoo regularly. The San Diego Safari Park recently opened a very nice walk-though kangaroo and wallaby exhibit, but it isn't as nearly as good as the Moonlit one. Congratulations on your awards.
Charlie Sheen talks about his trip to Australia and visit to Moonlit Sanctuary: Charlie Sheen Celebrates 1 Year of Sobriety
Hopefully he behaved himself. It looks like he did. Do you get many celebrities trekking through Moonlit?
We do get a number, but do not "out" them unless they out themselves. Charlie was very polite, friendly and engaged in his tour.
Moonlit Sanctuary are thrilled to have bred yellow-bellied gliders for the first time, and it turned out to be twins! While twins have occurred before in captive breedings, this was the first time the species has ever been bred on display. Yellow-bellied glider breedings are still quite unusual but we hope to make them more common in the future. Clipping from last Sunday's Herald Sun.
Boris Becker visited Moonlit Sanctuary to shoot segments for his TV show today. As well as meet ing kangaroos and koalas, Boris sponsored our critically endangered orange-bellied parrots.
Meet regent honeyeater chick number 5. Regent honeyeaters are critically endangered and Moonlit Sanctuary are breeding in support of the reintroduction program. Parents and chick can be seen in the walk-in aviary.
Moonlit Sanctuary won Silver in the Ecotourism category at the 2018 Australian Tourism Awards, announced last night.
Great news from our critically endangered Orange-Bellied Parrot breeding program. As the Orange Bellied Parrot breeding season winds up, our final chicks have just left the nest box, bringing the total number of fledglings at Moonlit Sanctuary to just over 60 for the season! Our dedicated OBP team worked tirelessly to ensure that the breeding pairs had everything they needed to get this many offspring on the perch. Some of the fledglings have already been released to boost the wild population, while the others have been transferred to our large planted flight aviaries to socialise and fly together with the adults as a flock. Especially satisfying were the first clutch results, which saw a 82% egg fertility rate and an average of 3.2 young birds produced from each nest. This is one of the highest rates yet achieved from captive birds and an orange-bellied parrot expert said that is equivalent to the previous long-term average for wild birds.
Moonlit has acquired 2.2 swift parrots (Lathamus discolor) that are now on display in the aviary on the wallaby walk that also contains helmeted honeyeaters and bush stone-curlews. The objectives of holding this species is to establish good husbandry practices and to investigate ways we may be able to assist in the recovery of this Critically Endangered species.