 The captive breeding programme was scaled back in the early 1990s as a self-sustaining population was established.Since 1994, the programme serves only as a safeguard, should some catastrophe befall the wild population, and other rare endemics are now being cared for at the station (such as the pink pigeon or the Mauritius fody).In 2005, there were at least 800 mature birds; it is estimated that the remaining habitat allows for a carrying capacity of maybe 50-150 more (BirdLife International 2006a,b).