BILBIES BACK IN NSW AFTER 100 YEARS

the bilby

Bilbies, the iconic Australian native animal with long ears, are back running wild in a conservation area in NSW, after more than a century. Thirty of the small marsupials have been released in a specially fenced, predator-free section of Pilliga State Conservation Area, near Narrabri.

The bilby vanished in the wild in NSW around 1910 as a result of introduced predators such as foxes and cats.

Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said the bilbies were the first of 13 regionally extinct mammals that would be returned to the wild through the NSW Government’s 10-year Saving Our Species project.

"The return of the bilby is internationally significant: this is a major victory in the campaign to save our species from extinction," Ms Upton said.

"Bilbies are an iconic Australian native animal and with their long ears, have become our own beloved symbol of Easter.

"The bilbies are just the first of the mammal species to be reintroduced to select national parks in Western NSW under the $42.1 million project, with bridled nail-tail wallabies, brush-tailed bettongs and numbats among the species to follow.”