Indigenous rangers play key role in new plans to protect bilbies

Nyibol Gatluak Published April 2, 2024 at 12.30pm (AWST)

Introduced predators such as foxes and feral cats will be targeted in programs designed to help save the bilby from extinction.

Bilbies once inhabited two-thirds of Australia, but that has dwindled to just 15 per cent - mostly in central Australia.

The federal government has announced $1 million for two projects to support the long-term survival of the bilby, which has been listed as vulnerable.

The burrowing marsupial is facing a major risk of extinction from habitat loss and introduced predators such as feral cats, foxes and fires.

One project will support land managers undertaking feral cat control across more than 3.2 million hectares of west Queensland.

In Western Australia, the funding will support Warla-Warrarn Indigenous protected area rangers to detect populations of bilbies on Martu Country.

The two new projects build on more than $5 million in bilby recovery projects.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, who announced the funding on Thursday, said it was important to ensure bilbies survived for future generations.

"That means tackling threats like feral cats, which currently threaten over 200 nationally listed threatened species," she said in a statement.

In 2021, a population of greater bilbies were established in the Strzelecki Desert in far-west New South Wales through a collaboration between University of New South Wales scientists and the state's National Parks and Wildlife Service, in consultation with Matuwa Traditional Owners represented by the Tarlka Matuwa Piarku Aboriginal Corporation.

Nyibol Gatluak - AAP

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National Indigenous Times

Disclaimer: This function is AI-generated and therefore may mispronounce.