Bandicoots return to NSW after long absence—first milestone in ambitious reintroduction

bandicoot reintroduction – 40 Shark Bay barred bandicoots have arrived in NSW’s Mallee Cliffs predator-free sanctuary, joining an expanding restoration effort to bring locally extinct mammals back to the landscape.

A new wave of hope has just landed in south-west NSW: Shark Bay bandicoots have been released into a predator-free sanctuary, marking a major milestone in a long-running reintroduction effort.

The focus is on two once-common species—the golden bandicoot and the barred bandicoot—both of which disappeared from the region more than 150 years ago after introduced predators. including cats and foxes. reshaped survival odds.. Misryoum reports that the latest step involves barred bandicoots making a cross-country journey from Western Australia to Mallee Cliffs National Park. a landscape designed to give small native mammals a fighting chance.

This wasn’t a casual relocation.. Forty barred bandicoots were transported by private charter plane—an unusual logistics choice that underscores how time-sensitive these conservation moves can be.. They were released inside a fenced area spanning 9,750 hectares, specifically managed to be free of feral predators.. Before the animals entered the sanctuary. a Smoking Ceremony was held by local Barkandji representatives. welcoming the bandicoots “to Country” and grounding the scientific work in cultural stewardship.

The releases are the culmination of a partnership effort between Australian Wildlife Conservancy and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). a collaboration described as a 10-year project to restore locally extinct species across two NSW sites.. Mallee Cliffs National Park in the far south-west is the destination for this newest cohort. while Pilliga State Conservation Area in north-west NSW has been another hub for earlier translocations.. Misryoum’s framing of the story is simple: this is conservation at scale. sustained long enough to move from planning into measurable results.

At Mallee Cliffs, the bandicoots join an expanding community of restored mammals.. The sanctuary has already welcomed a sequence of locally extinct species over recent years. including the greater bilby (2019) and several other small-to-medium marsupials and rodents.. Most recently. new arrivals in the network have also included hopping mice. bettongs. and wallabies—each introduction adding to a larger ecological experiment: can complex. predator-controlled habitats be rebuilt enough to reverse local extinction?

For a project like this, monitoring isn’t optional—it’s how conservation learns.. Before release at Mallee Cliffs. 20 of the bandicoots were fitted with VHF transmitters so their movement and survival could be tracked during the critical transition period.. Misryoum reports that monitoring of a previous release found survival rates between 87% and 100%. a strong signal that the sanctuary environment is providing the necessary resources for these endangered animals to settle.

Those numbers matter beyond the animals themselves.. When a reintroduction succeeds. it can reshape how managers think about extinction trajectories—especially for species that disappeared due to pressures that are still present elsewhere.. In effect. feral predator-free sanctuaries become living laboratories. letting conservationists test whether the bottleneck is habitat suitability. predator pressure. or something more subtle like food availability and shelter complexity.

There’s also a human dimension that conservation planning can’t fully contain.. Traveling nearly 3. 000 km with live animals on a charter flight is both technically demanding and emotionally charged for the teams involved.. Misryoum highlights a sentiment that has shown up repeatedly in long-term wildlife work: the return of a species to its former range can feel like closing a historical loop—after generations of loss.

Looking ahead, the bandicoot release appears designed not just to “restart” a species, but to build resilience through supplementation.. The new transfer is described as a boost to an earlier group of 20 bandicoots moved from Pilliga to Mallee Cliffs in October 2025.. That matters because small founding populations can be vulnerable to chance events; additional releases can strengthen genetic and demographic stability over time.

If this phase continues to go well, the implications extend beyond bandicoots.. A working model—predator-free fencing paired with long-term collaboration. careful animal preparation. and continuous monitoring—can influence how other regions approach locally extinct species.. In the near term. Misryoum expects the key question will be how the bandicoots perform as the sanctuary ecosystem matures around them: whether they reproduce. how they use cover. and how quickly they integrate into the restored ecological balance.