Rural communities come to the rescue
of the endangered Red-tailed Phascogale
The Red-tailed Phascogale is a charismatic, but little known, possum-like mammal that used to occur in the more arid areas of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria. It has survived only in the Western Australia wheatbelt between Brookton and the Fitzgerald River National Park. Much of its remaining habitat is small and isolated bush remnants surrounded by farmland. It is nationally endangered and its range has contracted back to a small fraction of what it was at the time of European settlement.
Local farmers in the Western Australian wheatbelt having been working to protect and enhance the habitat of this endangered species.
In the central wheatbelt, the farming community at Narembeen have banded together to create the 430 hectare Wadderin Sanctuary for the protection of native fauna. They recently completed an 11.5 km fox-proof fence around the Sanctuary in 2007 and have now eradicated foxes from the area. This month has seen the first attempts to re-establish the area's lost fauna - with the reintroduction of the Red-tailed Phascogale.
Twenty animals have been transferred from farms at Wagin to the Wadderin Sanctuary at Narembeen over the last couple of weeks. The transfer has been smooth and animals appear to have settled. They have found hollows for shelter in old-growth York gums, rejecting the nest boxes placed on site by the scientists.
If this reintroduction succeeds the farming community at Narembeen are hoping it will be the first of many. Eighty four year-old retired farmer Mel Bristow commented "I still remember the bilbies and other animals that were here when I was a kid - but they are all long gone. It is great to think that they could be returned after so long."
The reintroduction of Red-tailed Phascogale to Wadderin Sanctuary at Narembeen has been generously funded by the communications company Exetel and the Foundation for Australia's Most Endangered Species.
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