The bilby has been successfully reintroduced into a large cat and fox-free area at Sturt National Park more than a century after the animal was declared extinct in NSW.
Minister for the Environment, Matt Kean said the reintroduction was made possible by collaboration between Taronga Conservation Society Australia, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and ecologists at the University of NSW.
Mr Kean said the bilbies, part of a new breeding program at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, would begin the process of returning the area to what it was before feral animals’ wreaked havoc on native wildlife.
“This is one of the country’s most important threatened species initiatives,” Mr Kean said.
“Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate in the world but we are turning back the tide of extinctions, reintroducing at least 13 mammal species currently listed as extinct in NSW by establishing a network of feral cat and fox-free areas,” he said.
Mr Kean said there were an estimated 9,000 bilbies left in Australia and the Wild Deserts project at Sturt National Park planned to increase the population by 17 per cent.
Deputy Secretary of NPWS, Atticus Fleming said the Wild Deserts project had created one of the largest feral-animal-free areas in Australia, after eradicating every last rabbit, cat and fox from two 2,000 hectare feral-proof fenced enclosures.
