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New Boys Mean Hope For East Gippsland’S Rock-Wallabies

Victoria's critically endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby population received a boost this week when two captive-bred males were successfully released into the Snowy River National Park in East Gippsland.

By Department of Sustainability & Environment - 2nd December 2005 - Back to News

Victoria's critically endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby population received a boost this week when two captive-bred males were successfully released into the Snowy River National Park in East Gippsland.

The two male wallabies were released into a colony of Rock-wallabies believed to contain two females. It is hoped that with the two new members, the colony will begin to produce young. The critically endangered Victorian population is estimated to be less than ten individuals in the wild.

Mick Bramwell, the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s convenor of the Victorian Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Recovery Team said that this is the first time that captive-bred Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies have been released into the wild in Victoria.

"The release has been a success to date. The males have quickly adjusted to their new home," Mr Bramwell said.

"DSE has received excellent support from Parks Victoria, Adelaide University and Zoo, ACT Parks and Wildlife and our corporate sponsors – Bristol Myers-Squibb and Genetic Technologies Ltd – and we are all very excited about the future prospects of the colony."

The two wallabies are well-travelled, having been born and bred at Adelaide Zoo before spending the last three months "hardening off" in a 2.5 hectare enclosure at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in the ACT.

"This allows the animals to get used to fending for themselves, dealing with predators and sampling the plants that are likely to form part of their diet in the wild," Mr Bramwell said.

The two males, named 'Raz' and 'Jim' after two long-term wildlife researchers on the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby recovery team, were released as a pair to minimise stress on the animals and increase the chance of a long-term male presence at the colony.

The animals were released at dusk near vacant den sites with a small amount of supplementary food nearby.

"One of the males stayed around the release team feeding and grooming – free at last to explore his natural habitat. This is what the team has been working so hard for," Mr Bramwell said.

The main threat to the survival of the animals are predators, particularly foxes. To manage this threat, Parks Victoria has implemented predator control around the colonies for the last five years.

Working with adjacent landholders, increased fox-control efforts have been made over the last few weeks as part of the planned release of these animals.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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