The endangered Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) is one of three bandicoot species found in the greater Sydney Area. In NSW the species is only known from northern Sydney and the far south-east of NSW.
The populations in Sydney are restricted to the Ku-ring-gai Chase and Garigal National Parks. The threats from predators such as foxes and cats, road mortality, bushfires and the problems of small, isolated populations make them particularly vulnerable to local extinctions.
During monitoring over the past four years, less than 50 of these compact, rabbit sized mammals have been found in the two parks. In September 2007 however, a Foundation funded survey picked up two new animals in Kuring-Gai Chase National Park, a male and a female bandicoot that had not been micro-chipped.
After many disheartening surveys that had failed to find new females, this find of a female bandicoot with pouch young raises hopes for the species
It is a sign that fox control, another Foundation funded measure, is starting to make Ku-ring-Gai Chase National Park’s heathland safer for the bandicoots.
Your donations also help scientists set up a captive breeding program for the bandicoots as an insurance policy.
The recovery plan for the Southern Brown Bandicoot in NSW includes a captive breeding program. Donations have helped start up this costly long-term strategy which is now in its planning stage. It will involve capturing bandicoots from the two Sydney national parks, breeding them and releasing the young into the wild.
