Bilbies released back into outback NSW after 100 years of 'extinction'
More than 100 years after being declared extinct in the state, 10 of the strongest and healthiest Australian bilbies from Dubbo's Western Plains Zoo have been released into a protected area of the Sturt National Park in the most north-western corner of New South Wales.
For Dubbo-based senior zookeeper
Steve Kleinig a long career in conservation has brought many golden moments,
but releasing the bilby is one of the best. "I've been at Western Plains
for the last 19 years, and I've been lucky enough to be involved in quite a few
conservation projects over the years," he said. "But when the first
bilby was released, the cameras were on and everyone has crowded around, and to
see the emotion on everyone's face; that was very overwhelming. "It
definitely was a career highlight, that's for sure."
Five male and five female bilbies
were flown from Dubbo in the cold early hours of September 11 to Tibooburra, as
part of the Wild Deserts Program.
They were released into a
2,000-hectare area in the nearby national park where they were fenced-off from
cats, foxes, and rabbits. "It's a historic moment really, to release them
back into the desert," Mr. Kleinig said.
There are just 9,000 bilbies in
Australia and the reintroduction of the small marsupial into the special
enclosures aim to increase that number by 17 percent.
It is the third time in NSW that such
a release of the bilby has occurred.
Bilbies have already been released in
the Pilliga and Mallee Cliffs but this is the first time in Sturt National
Park.
A healing process for the local Wongkumara people,
the region's Traditional Owners, they see the arrival of the bilby as a healing
process for the land. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service deputy secretary
Atticus Fleming said bringing the bilbies back was the first step in trying to
restore the landscape. "Ultimately, what we want is for the Australian
bush to resemble what it was a couple of hundred years ago; alive with these
mammals that perform really important ecological roles," he said. "Every
bilby shifts a few tonnes of soil every year."
Mr Fleming said the bilby's digging
action assisted in seed germination for revegetation and with aerating the
soil. "The soil gets turned over which influences the way water moves
through the landscape, it influences germination rates, it gets the landscape
functioning again the way it used to be," he said. "So, the idea is
for the bilbies to be in there digging away, beginning the process of renewal. When
you get formerly compacted soil instead now being turned over, that heals the
landscape."
More to be done
Australia has the worst mammal
extinction rate in the world, with more than 30 mammal species lost since
colonization.
The introduction of feral predators
and hard-hooved livestock has played a key role in those species' demise,
according to the chief executive of Taronga Conservation Society Australia Cameron
Kerr. "The ecosystems are all living on the edge, it's a delicate
balance," he said, adding "When you bring in animals like pigs and
livestock, then cats and foxes, you can imagine what that does to put the
balance out of whack."
Future releases into the Wild Deserts
Program enclosures will include the carnivorous western quoll; a natural
predator of the bilby. "Western quolls, stick-nest rats, golden bandicoots, and western barred bandicoots are all breeds that can go back in [the
environment] one step at a time," Mr. Kerr said.
Provided by ABC NEWS Bilbies from Taronga Western Plains Zoo have been released in outback NSW. (Supplied: Rick Stevens)
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