Back from the brink

The echo parakeet is the third bird from the island to be saved by trust workers and their partner organisations, although it is still at risk. The population in the wild has grown from just ten to 320 and it has been recategorised in the 2007 Red List of Threatened Species from being critically endangered to endangered. Other birds which have been saved are the pink pigeon and the Mauritius kestrel. News of the growing population of echo parakeets in the wild in Mauritius was announced in the Red List published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).