The Program Focus 

The program’s primary purpose is to increase the number of Helmeted Honeyeaters in the wild and reduce the threats to the wild population so that they become self-sustaining into the future.

The Program Plan

The program aims to conserve the Helmeted Honeyeater through the following activities:

1. Effectively administer the recovery effort to ensure that Recovery Plan objectives are met.
2. Attain a wild population of at least 200 mature individuals spread between at least two self-sustaining sub-populations, at least one of which is in a separate water catchment to the Cockatoo-Woori Yallock Creek system.
3. Maintain and enhance the value of Helmeted Honeyeater habitat in Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve and strategically throughout the former range, by active participation in the land-use planning process and by encouraging community involvement.
4. Maintain the captive colony of Helmeted Honeyeaters at a size which will provide adequate stock to:
   a. provide insurance against the demise of the wild population;
   b. support release to establish new wild colonies and for trials of novel release strategies;
   c. constantly improve captive breeding and husbandry techniques;
   d. maintain 95% of the wild heterozygosity in the captive population.
5. Maintain the genetic diversity and evolutionary potential of the Helmeted Honeyeater.

Zoos Victoria's Role

Zoos Victoria's key roles are to: 

1. Supplement in situ populations through captive breeding for reintroduction.
2. In the event that the wild population continues to decline, maintain an insurance population in captivity.

Zoos Victoria has been involved in the captive breeding of Helmeted Honeyeaters since the Recovery Program began in 1989, and is continuing this commitment. In addition, Zoos Victoria staff are involved in the translocation and reintroduction of captive-bred birds to the wild and monitoring their survival after release.