2010 BILBY UPDATE

The final update from Malcolm Douglas, August 2010

THE BILBIES HAVE DISAPPEARED

Malcolm has now made 12 trips to the Great Sandy Desert. Bilby numbers there have been declining rapidly over the last 3 years, even though the seasons have been great with ample rain.

Malcolm believes that the large number of feral cats is responsible for the disappearance of the bilbies.

In August 2010 Malcolm and his team spent a week in a R44 helicopter revisiting all known bilby sites. There was no sign of bilbies anywhere. No tracks, no sign of digging and no burrows. The bilbies have gone.

The Great Sandy was the last area where good populations of bilbies were established. Over the last 15 years the number have dropped alarmingly and now there is only the occasional sighting of a bilby on the remote dirt tracks south east of Halls Creek. A small population still exists on the Dampier Peninsula, north of Broome.

Malcolm is not suggesting that bilbies have totally disappeared from the Great Sandy Desert, but over the last 12 months he has not been able to find any signs of bilbies in areas where they used to be plentiful.

Malcolm’s latest special has now been completed. "RESCUE THE BILBY WITH MALCOLM DOUGLAS" is a one hour special that Malcolm has just completed for the Channel 7 Network. It will be screened nationally late 2010 or early 2011. The film shows the drama, adventure and disappointment of Malcolm’s trips into the Great Sandy Desert looking for Bilbies.

BREEDING BILBIES IN BROOME

At the Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Wildlife Park, Malcolm and Valerie now have four pairs of bilbies. The offspring will be used for a nocturnal walk for visitors. Excess stock will be sent to the D.E.C breeding program at Peron Peninsula at Shark bay.

Over $150,000 has now been spent on helicopter surveys and breeding facilities at Broome. Any donations will be greatly appreciated.

 

2009 BILBY UPDATE

After our first expedition into the Great Sandy Desert

I headed out into the sand dunes four more times.

On each trip I learnt more about bilbies and where the few remaining individuals were to be found.

I am now convinced that the bilby population in the Great Sandy Desert is very low. We have now located over a hundred burrows. Very few are active and whenever there are signs of a bilby there are always cat tracks nearby.

On the third trip we recorded one large male with a night vision camera. We set the camera and infra-red lights at the entrance to a burrow and filmed the bilby leaving and entering the burrow several times over an eight hour period. This was all very exciting as it was the first time we have actually recorded a bilby for our television special.

We have now developed a technique to trap a bilby when it leaves its burrow. By the end of November it was getting too hot to work in the sand dunes but we did manage to trap two male bilbies. The first bilby we caught was only a few months old and the second was in very poor condition with big scars on its back, probably the result of a cat or perentie attack.

We got a third male bilby from an aboriginal friend of mine, who caught it one night on the Cape Leveque Road, when he was driving home.

After six months we have not trapped any females. This is very disappointing as the Department of Conservation and Environment need at least four new females for their captive breeding program on the Perron Peninsula at Shark Bay W.A.

We have now bred four bilbies at our Wilderness Wildlife Park in Broome W.A and hopefully we will pick up some females during the winter 2009.

FUTURE PLANS

We are expanding our breeding facilities in Broome and a number of trips are planned for June, July and August 2009.

Our search area will be at least three times that of 2008 and we will again be using helicopters and four wheel drive bikes.

Our team is confident that we can locate the few remaining bilbies as we now have the knowledge and experience to find their burrows and tracks from the air.

Our biggest problem is the cost of the R44 helicopter with

7 days flying (8 hours a day) in the desert costing around $60,000.00 including fuel.

Along with the other costs (vehicles, food, wages etc.) it makes the bilby rescue a very expensive exercise.

I believe that it is imperative that we set up large captive breeding areas for the bilby. It is possible that these animals could be extinct in less than 20 years. Bilbies have now disappeared from many areas where they were common 10 to 15 years ago, such as between Broome and Port Hedland and the Tanami Desert.

During the 1930’s the Yalara, the Lesser Bilby was still common in the arid areas of W.A. The last confirmed sighting was in 1961. It has now been declared extinct. We do not want the Greater Bilby to disappear too.

FUND RAISING

We desperately require at least $60,000.00 by June 2009 to continue our Bilby Rescue.

We are approaching some of Australia’s bigger companies to donate money to save one of Australia’s best known iconic animals.

Everyone can help!

Even a small donation can keep the helicopters flying for a few more minutes. Send Donations to:

The Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Wildlife Park

P O Box 5500, CABLE BEACH WA 6726

Email: malcolmdouglas@bigpond.com.au