Twenty-six endangered eastern bettongs have been relocated from the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve to secure facilities at Mt Rothwell in Victoria.
The eastern bettongs, which are part of Tidbinbilla’s threatened species recovery program, were evacuated by Australian Defence Force (ADF) aircraft to escape the recent Orroral Valley blaze.
The rescue was coordinated by the Incident Management Team of the ACT Emergency Services Agency with assistance from ACT Parks and Conservation.
Minister for Emergency Services, Mick Gentleman said efforts were also being made to safeguard other animals in Tidbinbilla’s species recovery program.
“Two critically endangered southern brush-tailed rock-wallabies and two yellow-footed rock wallabies, which require ongoing care, are being transferred to Taronga Zoo,” Mr Gentleman said.
“More brush-tailed rock wallabies will be relocated from Tidbinbilla to Mt Rothwell by ADF aircraft,” he said.
The Minister thanked the Agencies involved in rescuing the animals.
“I extend a heartfelt thankyou to everyone to has helped to successfully relocate Tidbinbilla’s threatened animals and the Australian Defence Force who has helped to enable the operations,” he said.
He said a small population of critical breeding Northern Corrobboree Frogs and Tidbinbilla’s captive koalas had also been transferred to purpose-built facilities at the Australian National University.
Mr gentleman said bushfire preparations were now being undertaken at Tidbinbilla to make the area safer for remaining animals.
“This includes fuel reduction burns, installation of containment lines, removal of vegetation around key enclosures and the installation of sprinkler systems in holding areas,” he said.
