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Swift parrot action from Leonardo DiCaprio

The swift parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south-eastern Australia in the winter.

The swift parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south-eastern Australia in the winter. Photo: TND

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio has joined the fight to save the critically endangered Swift Parrot.

The A-lister told his 62 million followers on Instagram about conservation efforts to protect the bird, with just 750 believed to be left in Tasmania.

The Academy Award winner celebrated a recent Supreme Court decision to suspend forestry operations south of Hobart, which is home to the rare parrot.

“The Australian government has promised that it will prevent any new extinctions,” DiCaprio posted.

“Conservationists continue to encourage them to uphold their zero extinction commitment.

“The only way to protect the Swift Parrot, and hundreds of other threatened Australian forest species, is [to] end native logging across Australia and Tasmania.” 

Environmentalist and former Greens leader Bob Brown invited DiCaprio to see Tasmania’s forests and wildlife for himself.

“Leonardo DiCaprio has put Tasmania on the map big time, and the plight of the Swift Parrot is now well and truly global,” Brown said.

“We are delighted to see Leonardo’s full endorsement of our campaign to end native forest logging and save the critically endangered Swift Parrots.”

Dr Brown’s foundation is challenging the legality of logging at a forestry coupe in the Huon Valley but a date has yet to be set for the hearing.

Swift parrots breed in Tasmania in warmer months and fly across Bass Strait to the mainland during winter.

–AAP

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