Easter choc-aholics can now get their fix and save one of our rarest marsupials – the greater bilby.
Speaking at Dreamworld today, the Acting Premier and Acting Environment Minister Steven Miles said it wasn’t too late to buy chocolate bilbies and support the Save the Bilby Fund.
“This Easter, we are encouraging Queenslanders to reach for chocolate Easter bilbies instead of chocolate Easter bunnies.
“Each purchase of a chocolate Easter bilby will see a portion of the purchase price, depending on the brand, donated to the Save The Bilby Fund, who have done excellent work with the Department of Environment and Science in restoring Queensland’s bilby population.”
Mr Miles said DES had been working in collaboration with the Save the Bilby Fund since 1999 to ensure the bilby’s recovery.
“I am pleased to announce that this relationship will continue with DES and the Save The Bilby Fund working on a new collaborative agreement for greater bilby recovery work.
“Through its partnership with DES, the Save The Bilby Fund delivers a captive breeding program, releasing bilbies into the Currawinya National Park predator proof enclosure.
“They also manage the Charleville Bilby Experience, a bilby education centre in Charleville.”
Now endangered in Queensland, the greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) once ranged over most of mainland Australia, but the arrival of introduced predators virtually wiped them out.
“For many years there were no records of greater bilbies in Queensland, and many experts believed the species was extinct in the state,” Mr Miles said.
Today the greater bilby is found in several locations in western Queensland, with the largest remaining population in an area west of the Diamantina River, in Astrebla Downs National Park, Diamantina National Park and some pastoral properties.
In 2019, the greater bilby was reintroduced to a 2500-hectare predator-free enclosure on Currawinya National Park near the Queensland-New South Wales border.
Mr Miles said surveys indicated there may be as many as 50,000 bilbies in Astrebla Downs National Park.
“In recent years, regular aerial bilby burrow surveys have been done over Astrebla Downs and Diamantina national parks and surrounding private land, as well as ground surveys of wild bilbies.
“During the 2021 surveys we saw record numbers of bilbies on Astrebla Downs National Park.
“In addition to the surveys done by DES staff, the Save The Bilby Fund has also coordinated a survey of bilbies in other areas of Queensland.
“The Save The Bilby Fund and DES staff have been working together to share information on their surveys to better understand the bilby population in Queensland.
“That’s why it’s great to be here at Dreamworld today, as Dreamworld also undertakes a bilby breeding program, providing bilbies to the Save The Bilby Fund to support the reintroduced population at Currawinya National Park,” Mr Miles said.
Save The Bilby Fund CEO Kevin Bradley said he was delighted the Queensland Government and the Save The Bilby Fund could continue to work together.
“It’s vital that we continue this work,” Mr Bradley said.
“The greater bilby’s closest relative, the lesser bilby, has been extinct for many years, and the greater bilby faces ongoing threats with foxes and feral cats continuing to be the most serious problem in the wild.
“I am also delighted that the Save The Bilby Fund was able to work again with Darrell Lea to bring their chocolate Easter bilbies back into supermarkets to raise community awareness of, and monetary support for our bilby recovery efforts,” Mr Bradley said.
