$2.6 million boost for Kangaroo Island dunnarts and glossy black cockatoos after devastating bushfires
Two of Kangaroo Island’s most endangered animals will benefit from a $2.6 million cash injection into wildlife recovery plans after the island’s horrific bushfires.
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Rescue plans worth $2.6m have been launched to protect two of Kangaroo Island’s most vulnerable animals devastated by last summer’s bushfires.
The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is spending $1.8m on a project to save the Kangaroo Island dunnart from extinction.
A separate, government-funded project will also help glossy black cockatoos recover from the fires.
The Federal Government has announced $800,000 towards saving the two species through work such as restoring habitat, feral animal and disease control, fire management work for unburnt bushland and monitoring the animals.
Kangaroo Island Landscape Board glossy black cockatoo project officer Karleah Berris said it had been years since the team had received such a sizeable cash injection.
More than half of the birds’ feeding trees were wiped out in the fires, but habitat in the island’s east is keeping the species afloat.
“It just goes to show that the work we’ve been doing over the last 25 years has really helped,” Ms Berris said.
There were only 370 of the birds remaining on the island before the blazes, and this year’s count is due in September. Since the blazes, more than 7000 she-oaks have been planted, and the funding will pay for thousands more trees and the installation of nest boxes.
Most of the Kangaroo Island dunnarts’ habitat was also destroyed throughout December and January.
Immediately after the fires, 13ha was fenced on private land at Western River. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is leading a project to save the species, including creating a 370ha predator-proof refuge in the area.
This week, the Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service allocated $400,000 towards that work. There were fewer than 500 dunnarts remaining before the fires, and Pat Hodgens, of Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife, said the number killed in the blazes was yet to be quantified.
“Even though it’s great that we’re still finding them, we don’t have a handle on the population, how many we have in (unburnt) patches and what their long-term persistence is going to be like,” Mr Hodgens said.
Wildlife conservancy chief executive Tim Allard said the dunnart refuge needed to be rapidly expanded to ensure the species’ survival.
“The Federal Government acknowledges the Kangaroo Island dunnart population hangs by a thread, with so few individuals left that it is likely to be the next Australian mammal to go extinct,” he said. Work on the enclosure is expected to start next month.