Zoos SA Reveal their Conservation Goals for 2021

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: January 1, 2021 9:25 pm

The brush tailed bettong is one of the species which Zoos SA hope to support in 2021

Photo Credit: Zoos SA

Zoos SA have revealed their New Years resolutions setting a goal to increase the conservation efforts for five species both at their two zoos (Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park) and in the wild.

“As a conservation charity we have a number of conservation wishes for 2021. Despite everything 2020 has thrown at us, we continued to work tirelessly and will continue to do so. It’s the reason our organisation exists,” says Zoos SA Conservation Manager, Dr Liberty Olds.

For 2021 the five conservation wishes for Zoos SA are

1. To continue to assess and to find the Kangaroo Island Dunnart
2. To breed and reintroduce more Orange-bellied Parrots
3. To contribute more Tasmanian Devils to the disease-free mainland population
4. To see more Stick-nest Rats released into the wild in 2021
5. To reintroduce Brush-tailed Bettongs into the Yorke Peninsula

Greater stick nest rats are one of the species which Zoos SA hope to support in 2021

Photo Credit: Zoos SA

“Continuing our breeding programs for the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrots and endangered Tasmanian Devil and the release of near-threatened Greater Stick-nest Rats and critically endangered Brush-tailed Bettong are just some of the conservation programs we are currently working on. We support many other conservation projects directly or indirectly in both Australia and beyond,” continued Liberty.

“If wishes really can come true, then granting further success with these five conservation programs in 2021 will greatly help us to save species from extinction,” finished Liberty.

Orange bellied parrots are one of the species which Zoos SA hope to support in 2021

Photo Credit: Adrian Mann

Zoos SA experienced success with some of these programs during 2020. They first assisted wildlife on Kangaroo Island following the bushfires which occurred in late 2019. Staff worked to assist sick animals and to assess habitat. Unfortunately this work had to stop in March due to the effects of Covid-19.

Work has resumed in the last few months with Zoos SA partnering with other organizations on Kangaroo Island to set up fauna traps and monitor species numbers.

A target species for this program is the critically endangered kangaroo island dunnart.

“We dug pitfall traps in an area of unburnt land to assess wildlife numbers after the bushfires. The team has gone over to Kangaroo Island a number of times and we’ve found a number of species,” said keeper Gemma Asser, one of the Zoos SA staff members who has worked on the island.

“Unfortunately, we are yet to catch any Kangaroo Island Dunnarts, but they have been seen on camera traps so we know they are in the area.

“Our wish for 2021 would be to find the critically endangered Kangaroo Island Dunnart and start work to help re-establish numbers which were already decimated prior to the bushfires,” finished Gemma.

— AD —

Zoos SA also hope that captive breeding for a number of species will help to boost their numbers in the wild. In Tasmania they are hoping to increase numbers of the orange-bellied parrot an Tasmanian Devil.

The orange-bellied parrots will be released in to the wild in the hope they will return to the breeding site at Melaleuca in Tasmania. This year a record number of these birds returned to the breeding site and it is hoped this will increase even further in 2021.

The Tasmanian Devils will form part of the mainland insurance population which is free of Devil facial tumor disease. In the past some of the joeys born at Monarto Safari Park have been returned to the wild as part of a disease free population on Maria Island.

Greater stick nest rats are one of the species which Zoos SA hope to support in 2021

Photo Credit: Zoos SA

Zoos SA will continue their work in collaboration with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service along with not-for-profit organization Australian Wildlife Conservancy on releasing greater stick-nest rats to the wild. 40 of these bred at Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park were release this year.

Closer to home Zoos SA will work as part of a conservation program which is reintroducing locally extinct species back on South Australia’s Yorke Penisula.

Over the coming year they will work to release brush-tailed bettongs.

Learn more about Zoos SA on their website – Zoos SA

Learn more about the species in this article by clicking the buttons below.