Hopes of long-term survival of rufous bettong in NSW amid feral predator risk

"Rufous bettongs are miniature kangaroos," Aussie Ark's executive director Tim Faulkner said.

"They're quick, they're nimble, they're agile.

"The problem is that they didn't evolve with the fox or cat."

The not-for-profit conservation group is breeding bettongs for its protected sanctuary at the Barrington Tops, near Newcastle, to help safeguard the southerly populations.

Yesterday the group released a cohort of 20 that will start fending for themselves.

"They've still got to compete with each other and find food and water and shelter and warmth, but there are no ferals," Mr Faulkner said.

"It's a sanctuary, but life in the wild is not easy."

Mr Faulkner said the little marsupials will have to survive alongside captive-bred Tasmanian "devils and quolls and have to be aware of aerial predators".

"You just hope they're OK."

The future of bettongs in Australia:

Mr Faulkner said populations of bettongs in southern areas like the Hunter Valley struggled to survive in the wild.

"I saw one about a decade ago on the Gloucester side of the Barrington Tops," he said.

"We could prospectively produce, let's say, 1,000 bettongs for release in an unfenced area.

"The risk is that we're just going to make the foxes have full bellies."

He said the bettongs' "vulnerable" listing in NSW should be re-evaluated.

"In Queensland, they're doing better because … the fox struggles up in the heat and the tropics."

"I think the downward decline is pretty prominent and a vulnerable listing in NSW is probably not necessarily representative of the danger they're in."

The not-for-profit group will continue to breed and release the species into the sanctuary every year, with the aim of reaching a capacity of 200 to 300 bettongs.

Original Story By | Bindi Bryce