A post by a Hollywood actor about Swift Parrots in Tasmania is going viral with over 20,000 likes in just three hours.
Leonardo DiCaprio shared the post on Instagram, urging his followers to rally behind efforts to protect the remaining breeding habitat of the endangered parrots.
“Australia Conservationists have won a temporary injunction to stop logging in the Tasmania nesting sites of the Critically Endangered Swift Parrot. Only an estimated 750 Swift Parrots remain, yet forest destruction has continued in their sole breeding sites in eastern Tasmania,” he wrote.
“A recent report highlights the shocking scale of ongoing destruction, despite the recommendation from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to halt logging of native forests where these parrots nest.”
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DiCaprio said “the only way” to protect the Swift Parrot and hundreds of other threatened Australian forest species was to end native forest logging across Australia and Tasmania.
The Bob Brown Foundation, who are leading the charge against the native logging in the state, say the post has “put Tasmania on the map big time”.
“We are delighted to see Leonardo’s full endorsement of our campaign to end native forest logging and save the critically endangered Swift Parrots,” Bob Brown said.
“We are inviting Leonardo to Tasmania to see this beautiful island, its forests and wildlife for himself.”
