Published Wednesday, 23 July, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Premier
The Honourable Anna Bligh
Queensland undergoing ‘bilby boom’: Bligh
Premier Anna Bligh today announced that Queensland is undergoing a ‘bilby boom’ thanks to a coordinated captive breeding and release program involving the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA), Dreamworld and Save the Bilby Fund.
Speaking from the EPA’s bilby captive breeding facility at Charleville, Ms Bligh congratulated the three organisations on their successful captive breeding program that will ultimately result in the reintroduction of bilbies to places where they have gone extinct.
“This program has successfully bred over 30 bilbies for release to the wild this year alone, which is a great step forward for bilby conservation,” said Ms Bligh.
“Bilbies were once widespread across continental Australia, but have disappeared from much of it, mainly because of feral animals and destruction of the bilby habitat after white settlement.
“They do still hang on in the arid and semi-arid areas in inland Australia, but are gone from everywhere else.
“This captive breeding and release program is about turning that around,” Ms Bligh said.
Premier Bligh said the program will move to the next step in October with the release of 15 of the captive-bred bilbies into a 25sqkm feral animal proof fenced area at Currawinya National Park in south-west Queensland.
“This will be the largest single release of bilbies into the park since the fence was completed in 2001 and is therefore a crucial step in ensuring the survival of the bilbies at Currawinya,” she said.
The bilby fence was funded by Save the Bilby Fund and was completed in 2005. Save the Bilby fund continue to contribute to the ongoing maintenance of the fence.
For more information on Save the Bilby Fund, go to their website (www.savethebilbyfund.com).
Media contact: Minister’s Office 3336 8004
http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au
Speaking from the EPA’s bilby captive breeding facility at Charleville, Ms Bligh congratulated the three organisations on their successful captive breeding program that will ultimately result in the reintroduction of bilbies to places where they have gone extinct.
“This program has successfully bred over 30 bilbies for release to the wild this year alone, which is a great step forward for bilby conservation,” said Ms Bligh.
“Bilbies were once widespread across continental Australia, but have disappeared from much of it, mainly because of feral animals and destruction of the bilby habitat after white settlement.
“They do still hang on in the arid and semi-arid areas in inland Australia, but are gone from everywhere else.
“This captive breeding and release program is about turning that around,” Ms Bligh said.
Premier Bligh said the program will move to the next step in October with the release of 15 of the captive-bred bilbies into a 25sqkm feral animal proof fenced area at Currawinya National Park in south-west Queensland.
“This will be the largest single release of bilbies into the park since the fence was completed in 2001 and is therefore a crucial step in ensuring the survival of the bilbies at Currawinya,” she said.
The bilby fence was funded by Save the Bilby Fund and was completed in 2005. Save the Bilby fund continue to contribute to the ongoing maintenance of the fence.
For more information on Save the Bilby Fund, go to their website (www.savethebilbyfund.com).
Media contact: Minister’s Office 3336 8004
http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au