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Australian Bilby Appreciation Society |
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Mr Bilby can take you back to the main
back to the main
back to the main
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article by Phil Hammond Schoolkids, give yourselves a pat on the back. High School and primary students made up the bulk of people who queued at the Brisbane Ekka to take a peak at the endangered bilby. Not only was more than $20 000 donated to the Save The Bilby Fund at the display but students were sufficiently impressed to spur their schools into starting various conservation projects. Charleville-based national parks office Frank Manthey, who made the saving of the bilby a personal mission, said: “The display was a huge success. Now I’m being contacted by school groups every day. They have adopted the bilby and want to help by raising more dollars.” The bilby is a small, big-eared nocturnal marsupial which burrows underground and was once common over wide areas of Queensland and throughout Australia. But, according to Parks and Wildlife Service zoologist, Peter McRae, predation by foxes and feral cats in particular, has reduced Queensland’s bilby population to about 600 animals in the remote west. For years, McRae and Manthey have been working for the bilbies’ salvation through construction of specially designed fencing in a 5km square within the Currawinya National Park in the state’s far south-west. The fence will extend below ground level to prevent predators burrowing beneath, and be electrified on top to stop feral cats climbing over. Because bilbies have a 12 day gestation and can breed “like rabbits”, Manthey predicts that, within the haven, bilby numbers should build up sufficiently in 18 months to allow some to colonise beyond the fence. Several years ago, Manthey and friends set about raising $280 000 to buy the fence materials. By setting up fundraising stalls in shopping centres, mailing out hundreds of letters requesting support, arranging to earn commission on sales of chocolate Easter bilbies and a lot of other spare-time hard work, Manthey has raised $210 000. He said this week that fence posts were now being installed and the haven should be fully fenced and fox and cat-proofed within six months. He is also planning a programme to ensure feral predators outside the fence are trapped and their numbers reduced, so that when the bilby population builds up, they will not quickly be slaughtered as they try to survive elsewhere in the national park. Once the fence is built, Manthey hopes visitors of Currawinya
park will be able to see the protected animals at night in a special spotlighting
area.
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