Northern Bettongs to Return to Predator Proof Haven

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: July 26, 2021 9:30 pm

The northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) will benefit from funds to build northern Australia’s first large predator free haven

Photo Credit: Wayne Lawler/AWC

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy will build northern Australia’s first large feral predator-free safe haven in hopes to secure a future for the northern bettong, an endangered species. This has been made possible through a $1.5 million federal grant.

Funding has been contributed from the Environment Restoration Fund’s Safe Haven Grant.

The new haven will include a 13km (8miles) of fencing and enclosure 950ha (2347 acres). This new haven will be built at the AWC-owned and managed Mount Zero-Taravale Wildlife Sanctuary in north-east Queensland. 

This fencing project builds on two decades of work to destock and restore the habitat at the sanctuary in the Coane Range.

The northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) will benefit from funds to build northern Australia’s first large predator free haven

Photo Credit: Wayne Lawler/AWC

This new fenced have includes areas of prime habitat for Northern bettong. Construction of the haven will allow AWC to undertaken reintroduction projects for the species which is locally extinct in this area. AWC is working to establish a secure and genetically viable population of these animals.

Northern bettongs were found at Mount Zero-Taravale but became locally extinct around 2003. This was brought about by feral cats and habitat alteration. Only two populations remain and these are thought to include just 1,100 individuals.

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Tim Allard, Australian Wildlife Conservancy Chief Executive Officer, welcomed the awarding of the grant, saying that it advances plans to establish a safe haven and reestablish a population of the small endangered marsupial species in an area where it once thrived.

“This grant is great news as it enables us to move forward with the construction of a feral predator-free fence that will help protect the future of Queensland’s endemic bettongs and increased its global population by up to 50 percent,” Tim said.

The northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) will benefit from funds to build northern Australia’s first large predator free haven

Photo Credit: Wayne Lawler/AWC

Learn more about the Australian Wildlife Conservancy on their website – Australian Wildlife Conservancy