Brush-tailed mulgaras translocated as part of ecological restoration project
First Nations rangers in Western Australia are on a mission to protect brush-tailed mulgaras. 100 of the marsupials are being moved from their desert home to an island off the Shark Bay coast, which has been cleared of feral predators.
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00:00 It's the hour before sunrise in Western Australia's Goldfields region, and we lure
00:07 a mar to rangers and scientists check traps they set the day before.
00:12 "Is that a big one?"
00:13 "It's a big one, yeah."
00:14 "Is that a boy?"
00:15 "Probably, if he's that big."
00:17 With permission from the mar to traditional owners, these conservationists are hoping
00:22 to catch 100 brushtailed mulgares, a carnivorous marsupial related to the Tasmanian devil.
00:29 One by one, the tiny animals are checked, measured and recorded.
00:35 "A little microchip ID, just in the back of the shoulder blade here, so it's a little
00:40 like a little injection."
00:41 Microchips will help track the animals' progress after they move to dark Hartog Island, 800
00:49 kilometres away.
00:50 They'll be joining seven other native animals already translocated to the Predator Free
00:57 World Heritage Site.
00:58 "The idea is that we're trying to return the island state back to as near as possible
01:07 what we think it was probably like before Europeans first set eyes on it."
01:11 But the success of this project depends on the collaboration between scientists and mar
01:17 to rangers.
01:19 Scientists teach the rangers how to set traps and record data.
01:24 The rangers share knowledge about their country.
01:27 "A little bit of bush tucker, we call them darron, like a little plum, bush plum."
01:35 "It encompasses this amazing version of land management that basically covers, you know,
01:40 from cultural aspects to all of our natural ecological aspects that we're wanting to work
01:47 together to protect."
01:48 "So the mar to rangers and the scientists from the department have caught 13 mulgares
01:54 today and we're now going to go back to the homestead to prepare the animals for the flight."
02:02 The release will help protect this unique animal, which is close to being listed as
02:07 a vulnerable species.
02:09 And knowledge gained will continue to be shared.
02:12 "The main benefit of the program is to give the local Wolloona mob ownership of connecting
02:20 back to their country and that ownership comes in the form of jobs and security to be able
02:28 to share their, pass their knowledge on to their youth, their next generation."
02:32 Making sure the next generation can also care for country.
02:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]