‘Baudin’s or bauxite?’ Stark warning black cockatoo won’t survive mining expansion

The Baudin’s black cockatoo was nominated to be listed as critically endangered in Western Australia after research found its population had declined by 90% in 40 years but the state’s threatened species scientific committee rejected it. Photograph: animalinfo/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The destruction of Western Australia’s northern jarrah forests for bauxite mining will push a threatened black cockatoo “to and beyond the brink of extinction” if governments allowed it to continue, conservationists have warned.

Mark Henryon, a volunteer with Birdlife Western Australia, said there was a clear choice that would decide whether the endangered Baudin’s black cockatoo would survive. “Baudin’s or bauxite – we can’t have both,” he said.