Filled with glee in bilby sanctuary
ONCE classified extinct in NSW, Taronga Western Plains Zoo (TWPZ) established a breeding program in 2019 to reintroduce bilbies to Sturt National Park after a century’s absence.
Greater bilby keeper Steve Kleinig shares that the sanctuary took more than two years of preparation leading up to the release of the first round of bilbies, with the preparation including fence upgrading and proofing to prevent predatory animals such as cats, foxes and rabbits from entering, along with high levels of pest control and upgraded security to track and monitor the growth of the bilbies.
With more than110 hectares to venture in, Steve describes the sanctuary as not being a traditional breeding ground given it has traits of the wild without the threat of predators.
Sixteen bilbies were introduced from different locations into the wild sanctuary with careful monitoring to ensure they were healthy and able to maintain a positive quality of life.
Steve says there are hundreds of bilbies in the enclosure currently as they can breed from five months old, and some are on their fourth generation.
“We are extremely fortunate as the conditions of the sanctuary are well kept and are improving over time,” he says, adding there has been an abundance of vegetation and food since their initial release.
Steve and the zoo advocate that bilbies should be representatives for an Australian Easter rather than rabbits, which are competitors to the native creatures.
“Bilbies used to roam over 70 per cent of Australia before rabbits were introduced in Australia,” he says, adding that during a period there were only 10,000 bilbies in Australia.
“Rabbits are categorised as a pest in Australia as they are direct competitors to bilbies.”
Greater bilbies pouch their offspring for 14 days, however the young do not leave the pouch for approximately 70 days after their birth.
Through the zoo’s breeding program and other programs around Australia, Steve shares that once the bilbies mature, they are introduced into national parks to increase their population.
With a high turnover, bilbies maintain their genetic diversity with consistency and improvement for wildlife releases.
Through regular tracking and health checks, Steve says ten bilbies were released to Sturt National Park Wild Deserts in September 2020.
Through the collaborative effort of the zoo and the Wild Deserts project at Sturt National Park, bilbies are set to start a species-led renovation of their desert ecosystem.
National Parks and Wildlife deputy secretary Atticus Fleming AM says the project is expected to increased population by 17 per cent at Sturt National Park.
“In these feral-free areas, we
are turning back time by restoring the Australian bush to what it should be – alive with small mammals such as the bilby,” Mr Fleming shared.
“Our small to medium sized mammals have suffered catastrophic declines in the last 200 years, driven by feral cats which kill 1.4 billion native animals every year.
“Creating large feral cat-free areas with conservation fencing will save species from extinction to help restore populations until we find an effective strategy for removing feral cats from the Australian bush.”