Bettongs Return to Desert After Local Extinction

Good news

By Bill Ormonde

ABC Broken Hill

Conservation

June 16, 2026

Bettongs are back in the desert after being gone for a long time.

In short:

Some bettongs have been set free in outback NSW after they disappeared from the area.

This is a big step forward for the Wild Deserts team, which has been working to bring back native animals for about 10 years.

What's next?

The team will track the bettongs and see how they do over the next few months.

Bettongs are related to kangaroos and used to live in many parts of Australia's desert and semi-desert areas.

But they disappeared from most of the mainland in just over a hundred years after Europeans arrived.

Feral cats and foxes hurt many native animals, including bettongs.

A baby bettong was caught in a safe area with no pests.

After two years of breeding in a safe area, some bettongs have been set free outside of it.

Bettongs have a special pouch, hop like kangaroos, and dig like rabbits.

They are very unique animals and are considered important for the environment.

The Wild Deserts team is working in Sturt National Park, which is near where the borders of Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales meet.

The team's leader, Rebecca West, is excited to see the bettongs back in the wild after they were gone for so long.

Bettongs dig homes and warrens and are always moving to new places.

Rebecca West hopes to set about 20 bettongs free in the wild.

Australia has lost many mammals, and this project is trying to help stop that from happening.

Protection from predators

The bettongs were set free in a 100 square kilometer area inside Sturt National Park.

Research has shown that feral cats are the biggest threat to bilbies and bettongs.

The team can control the number of feral predators in the safe area and keep them from hurting the bettongs.

Each bettong has a special collar so the team can track them.

The team knows that animals can thrive in a safe area with no predators.

David Damschke and the team will track the bettongs over the next few months.

The team wants to see the bettongs thrive in the wild and do their part in the ecosystem.

Feral cats kill over 1.5 billion native animals in Australia every year.

By living with some feral predators, the bettongs can learn to adapt and survive.

Rebecca West is hopeful that the bettongs will learn to be safe and thrive in the wild.

The bettongs will learn to listen and look out for predators while they eat and move around.

The team checks animal traps to see if any bettongs have been hurt.

Cats hunt differently than native predators and can be a big threat to the bettongs.

The Wild Deserts team has successfully bred and released several native species, including bettongs.

The bettongs join other animals like bilbies, golden bandicoots, and western quolls that have been released into the wild.

A small, carnivorous crest-tailed mulgara has also been released.

Over 400 bilbies have been set free in the wild training area over the past 18 months.

The team has seen the bilbies spread out and thrive in the area.

The team is also seeing signs of breeding, which is great news for the project.

The bilby population is doing well inside the safe areas.

The team has found evidence that other species are also breeding and thriving despite the threat of predators.

Navigating a new habitat

The team hopes the bettongs can adapt to their new environment.

The Wild Deserts project is a collaboration between several organizations, including UNSW and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The team leader, Richard Kingsford, says it's essential to track the bettongs as they navigate their new home.

The team needs to track the bettongs every day to see where they are and how they're doing.

Richard Kingsford is excited to see how the animals adapt to the wild.

If a bettong is killed, the team can learn what happened to it and how to prevent it in the future.

The team can take genetic samples to see if a cat was the killer.

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