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Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby
Recovery Program
- The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby (BTRW) ‘central form’ is listed as “vulnerable “ under the Federal Government’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 , and “Endangered” in the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 on the basis that numbers have been reduced to such a critical level that it is in immediate danger of extinction and at or near the limit of its geographic range.
- BTRW ‘southern form’ (VIC) is listed as critically endangered of extinction with fewer than 20 animals known to remain in the wild.
- To address the critical decline in BTRW populations, the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) Threatened Species Unit commenced a BTRW Recovery Program through the establishment of the NSW BTRW Recovery Team.
- In 1996 a BTRW Recovery Team was also established in Victoria, led by the VIC Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE).
- The major objectives of the BTRW recovery efforts are to research and manage actions required to promote BTRW recovery, secure and expand existing BTRW populations and ensure their future sustainability in the wild.
- The Recovery Teams have identified captive breeding as an important initiative for the long-term recovery of Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies which is now widely accepted as the only method for repopulating colonies diminished in the wild.
- Through a consultative process involving Waterfall Springs and other zoological institutions, the NSW BTRW Recovery Team has developed a BTRW Plan to ensure the co-ordinated recovery of this rare Australian macropod species.
- The BTRW Recovery Plan sets out what needs to be done to reverse the population decline and enure the species survival. It looks at habitat requirements, population distribution and threats and provides management actions to erase these threats.
© 2007 Waterfall Springs Wildlife Sanctuary