TWO men who shot and hid the bodies of dozens of rare parrots have been sacked by the company-owned orchards that employed and armed them.

In one of the worst killings of a threatened bird species ever detected in Victoria, 40 protected Regent parrots were shot near a large almond farm outside Robinvale, 470 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.

Only about 2400 Regent parrots survive in the wild, with half that number in Victoria.

Neil McManus, 46, of Swan Hill, and Joseph Borg, 40, of Robinvale, were employed by Australia's biggest almond grower Select Harvests and its subsidiary, Kyndalyn Park, when they shot the birds.

Select Harvests had wildlife control permits to shoot western grey kangaroos and common bird species such as ravens and eastern and yellow rosellas, but not Regent parrots.

The permits have been cancelled by the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Mr McManus and Mr Borg pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of taking protected wildlife and were each fined $750 without conviction in the Robinvale Magistrates Court. Three firearms owned by their employers were ordered to be forfeited.

Select Harvests and Kyndalyn Park will face court on June 5 — World Environment Day — charged with taking protected wildlife, failing to comply with a wildlife control permit and giving false or misleading information to an authorised officer.

Select Harvests has blamed the two workers for the shooting and sacked them for "serious misconduct". But the men say they were following company orders.

Mr McManus, a married father of two, is considering taking legal action over his sacking.

"Personally, I don't think we were treated fairly," he told The Sunday Age."It's knocked us around. I've had quite a few jobs in my life and I've never been sacked, but I bloody was on this one."

The Regent parrot is a nationally threatened species, protected under Victoria's Wildlife Act. The maximum penalty for killing a single bird is a $5350 fine and six months' jail, with extra fines for each subsequent bird killed.

In the past, the parrot was destroyed as an agricultural pest and many nesting and foraging areas were cleared.

But while killing the bird is banned and native vegetation clearing is regulated, Regent parrot numbers are still in decline. Their survival is threatened by other birds forcing them from their nest hollows, the clearing of small areas of mallee scrub that link nesting and foraging sites, long periods of drought, illegal destruction and human disturbance around nests.

They are also accidentally killed by cars when flocks feed on grain spilt on the roadside.

DSE biodiversity and ecosystem executive director Ian Miles said the 40 dead birds were found by wildlife authorities during a routine inspection in November.

"This is one of the most significant cases of alleged destruction of threatened wildlife detected in this state in recent years," Mr Miles said.

"We estimate there are only 2400 Regent Parrots left in the wild — half of them in Victoria — which makes the deliberate destruction of any number a very serious offence."

Select Harvests made a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on May 2.

It said: "The company regrets that this incident occurred and has informed the DSE that the employees were not acting under instruction from the company.

"The DSE was also informed that the destruction of the parrots was contrary to the policies and procedures of the company in place to protect wildlife.

"The DSE has been informed that following an internal investigation by the company into the incident two employees who were involved were dismissed for serious misconduct.

"Prior to the incident the company had comprehensive policies in place to protect wildlife."

Select Harvests said it had developed an updated wildlife management plan, which had been presented to the DSE.

"The company takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, has a good record in environmental management to date and adheres to environmental plans that preserve the habitat of native species."

Select Harvests managing director John Bird said the company would defend the charges.

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