AUSTRALIA SCORES THREE FS ON THREATENED SPECIES REPORT CARD

‘Extinct’ wallaby in trouble again, but one man continues 53 year quest to save them

On Threatened Species Day, an updated report card shows Australia is still failing to protect our unique plants and animals.

The World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia gives the nation an F for funding, recovery planning, and improving the threat status of the more than 2000 at-risk species in Australia.

WWF’s 2024 Threatened Species Report Card takes into account the 163 species added to the threatened species list since the first scorecard was released two years ago.

Among them is a wallaby believed extinct until the mid-60s. The parma wallaby is now listed as vulnerable after scientists estimated the 2019-20 bushfires reduced an already declining population by 24%.

This tiny wallaby has one of the most remarkable stories in the history of Australian wildlife. If it is to survive, much of the credit should go to 88-year-old Peter Pigott.

It was thought parma wallabies had been extinct for decades when in the mid-1960s there was a startling discovery: a thriving population on Kawau Island in New Zealand.

In the 1860s, Sir George Grey, a governor of South Australia and then New Zealand, populated Kawau Island with exotic animals including parmas and other wallaby species. By the 1960s they were being exterminated as pests.

Not long after the New Zealand discovery, some parma wallabies were found in the wild near Gosford. But their numbers appeared low. Plans to save the species centred on the Kawau Island population. Hundreds were exported to zoos and institutions in Australia and around the world.

Conservationist Peter Pigott created a private reserve by expanding his Mount Wilson property, building dams, and putting up an electric, fox-proof fence. In 1971, in multiple flights, Peter transported parma wallabies from Kawau Island. He started with 38; they now number about 200 – the largest known population.

“If an animal becomes extinct it’s gone forever. There’s huge emotion in that. You can say ‘sorry they’re extinct’. That’s pathetic if you didn’t try to do something about it. Our mission was to save the species and we believe we’ve done that,” said Peter.

He may look familiar to some from the 1980s TV commercials for his successful Uncle Pete's Toy Stores business, but keeping hundreds of wallabies alive for so long has drained his finances.

Recently animal welfare group WIRES began assisting with the cost of feeding the parmas. Peter estimates over the last 53 years he’s spent $2 million to bring the species back from the brink. They now go through 40 kg of carrots, 20 kg of sweet potatoes, and 25 kg of special pellets a day.

Peter was not surprised when the species was listed as vulnerable.

“I knew that it would happen, but it didn't make me happy, obviously. However, for the first time we've had attention from the government, including a visit from the federal environment minister.

“I hope that all Australian native wildlife will continue, not just the parma wallaby. There are many more animals in Australia that are endangered and need action from the government,” Peter said.

Our threatened species crisis is why WWF-Australia updated its Threatened Species Report Card and the my backyard website which enables users to check the individual grades for every federal electorate.

Nationally, Australia scored an F for funding, recovery planning, and improving the threat status of species. The grade for persistence (the likelihood species will become extinct) remained a B, and habitat protection inched over the line from a D to a C.

“The federal government needs to urgently fix broken nature laws and boost funding for our threatened plants and animals,” said report card author Dr Tracy Rout,Science and Research Lead, WWF-Australia.

“Our existing laws allow the continued destruction of habitat.

“Only 9% of our threatened species received dedicated funding from the Australian government in the last 5 years. Just 7% have a current recovery plan.

“We’re asking people to be a voice for Aussie wildlife. Email your local federal MP telling them you want better protections for our wildlife. Help bring our threatened species back from the brink of extinction,” Dr Rout said.

To email local federal MPs go to https://wwf.org.au/get-involved/protect-aussie-wildlife/

Meanwhile, after working for more than half a century to save parma wallabies, Peter Pigott hopes governments can now take over from him. WWF-Australia is investigating what role it can play.

“We’re talking to the New South Wales government and the University of Wollongong about a project to test how to wean some of Peter’s parma wallabies off supplementary food. Bannockburn Rewilding Sanctuary in Jervis Bay is the likely site for this research,” said Rob Brewster, WWF-Australia Rewilding Program Manager.

“The longer term vision is to use Peter’s parma wallabies to establish populations within feral free safe havens up and down the east coast of New South Wales.

“But none of that would be possible without the incredible efforts of Peter Pigott,” said Rob.