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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Back to the wild


Eight Southern Brush Tailed Rock Wallabies bred at Tidbinbilla will be released in to the wild in Victoria.


Staff at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in Canberra's south are celebrating a milestone in their program to preserve the endangered southern brush tailed rock wallaby. They are preparing to release eight of the wallabies into the wild to boost the population. All have been bred with the help of surrogate mothers from a similar wallaby species
The joeys are placed with surrogate mothers so the wallabies can breed more often. 
Acting senior wildlife officer Scott Ryan says the wallabies will undergo a health check, before they're released in the Victorian Grampians tomorrow.
"When you consider the fact there's around about 40 southern brush tailed rock wallabies in captivity, to be releasing 20 per cent of them out into the wild is quite significant," Mr Ryan said. "The other point obviously is that in the wild there's only estimated to be about 40 as well."

Wallabies returned to the wild



1 comment:

Elephant's Child said...

I couldn't view the link - was told I didn't have the access, but in any account I will be really pleased if they are released. And even more pleased if the numbers in the wild improve.