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This Bouncing Rat-Kangaroos Was Just Released Into the Wild in a Conservation Milestone

Dozens of endangered rat-kanagroos were released into the wild in a conservation milestone, Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) said on July 7.

AWC transferred 140 of the marsupials, known as woylies, outside of “a feral-predator-free fenced area,” where they were initially reintroduced in 2015 after an absence from Western Australia’s Wheatbelt of more than 100 years.

In 2015, 162 woylies were introduced to a fenced-in area “cleared of all foxes and cats.” Over the next decade, the population flourished, surpassing 1,000, the group said.

Foxes and cats are “the primary driver of native mammal extinctions and ongoing declines in Australia,” AWC said.

“While it is risky to release a predator-prone species such as the woylie into an area where cats are present, we sometimes have to take well-considered risks to advance conservation,” AWC chief executive Tim Allard said.

“We have evidence from previous releases of other species, and from monitoring the outcomes of predator control on the release site, to suggest that woylies have a good chance of establishing outside the fence.”

Footage released by AWC shows woylies being released outside the fenced area.

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