The Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) celebrated its 30 years of effective conservation work with history: they have reintroduced woylies, or brush-tailed bettongs, to the Northern Territory, where the species were extinct for over 60 years.
As the result of 12 careful months of planning and securing the necessary paperwork, 44 woylies were flown by the AWC from Mt. Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary in Wheatbelt, Western Australia, with the operation lasting for two nights starting on the evening of the conservancy's 30th anniversary. The brush-tailed bettongs flown in included 22 males and 22 females, with all females carrying their younglings in their pouch, providing an additional boost to the population.
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The woylies, or brush-tailed bettongs, were carried into the Northern Territory through two small charter planes to Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, where staff and volunteers immediately conducted health checks and recorded the measurements of each specimen. Volunteers then released the woylies into a 9,450-hectare area free of predators that could threaten the locally extinct species.
Additionally, some woylies were fitted with VHF tracking collars, allowing ecologists from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy to monitor their movements as they get used to their new home in the upcoming months.
Reintroducing Locally Extinct Species in NT
While they were once abundant across the Northern Territory, woylies were thought to have disappeared and were declared locally extinct by the 1960s. In the arid area, their decline has been noted shortly after European settlement.
Although they survived the establishment of feral cats in the area, they ultimately disappeared once red foxes flourished in the area, according to a feature article on the species on the AWC website. With their return to their native habitat this month, woylies will be able to repopulate and ensure genetic diversity in the following generations.
"It is a huge milestone for AWC and a thrill for the team at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary to have such an extraordinary opportunity to make history and reintroduce a locally extinct species back into the ecosystem," said AWC wildlife ecologist Kirsten Skinner in a statement.
The name "Woylie" is the widely adopted Noongar name given to the small species of marsupials native to southwestern parts of Australia, also known by the local Warlpiri name 'pututjurru' in Central Australia. They are loosely related to kangaroos and wallabies and are native only to Australia. While there are still remnants of these woylies in southwest Western Australia, their number in the world is less than 15,000.
About the Australian Wildlife Conservancy
The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is the largest private, non-profit conservation organization in Australia, protecting the threatened species through a "unique science-based, land management and partnership model." AWC is also the national leader in large, landscape-scale delivery of science-based land management strategies, including fire management, feral animal control, weed eradication, and the rewilding of threatened species.
With regard to reducing the woylie conservation efforts, the AWC is in charge of about 10% of the species' entire population. These brush-tailed bettongs are taken care of within feral predator-free conservation areas at the Karakamia Wildlife Sanctuary, Mt. Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary, and now at the Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary in the Northern Territory.
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