Wild Futures

 In very exciting news this is the first time we have completed our two biannual monitoring sessions within one calendar year since pre covid disruptions!   

It will be great to see this continue to gather better quality research into how Woodlands bandicoots are faring.  In May earlier this year we were using our old 100m by 100m grid pattern across the entire enclosure.  This time round after extensive research the woodlands site is now running a cluster formation.  So instead of 4 traps per hectare there is now 9 traps.  It also has large gaps between the new clusters with no traps.  The reason for this is to try to catch more female bandicoots.  As the females have a much smaller travel range than the males we can often get a male bias when trapping.     

Rather than potentially catching one male in a trap we now have eight other traps in that area to pick up the females.  Another reason for the cluster design is to gather more accurate information on how far they travel  looking for possible breeding mates or food.  Before they would regularly be caught in and around the first trap they were caught in.  The other bonus is stopping bi catch issues with our brushtail possums.   

As they are awake up to 2 hours earlier than the bandicoots they would often set off multiple traps and get caught themselves therefore leaving no chance of catching our target species.  Now if we catch a possum there are still many traps left over to potentially grab a bandicoot as well.  

This was the first time trapping the brand new clustered grid design, so we weren’t sure what we would catch as we reduced the number of traps from a whopping 232, to just 90 traps set each day. This was also the first time we have trapped in spring since October 2018! 

In total we caught 33 individual EBBs (19 male: 14 female) with 23 of these being cleanskins (animals that haven’t been caught before). Of the females caught, 64% of them had pouch young. 

In comparison, in May 2024 when we last trapped the supersized 232 trap grid, we caught 43 EBBs (29 male: 14 female). So that’s a 6% trap success rate in May 2024 and a 12% trap success rate in October! 

 This is a fantastic result and I think we all agree that the new cluster trap design is fantastic.  It will take a few traps to start gathering bulk information but we are off to a wonderful start. 

On the new predator fence construction mentioned in the last report we are gathering steam and have nearly completed the fence.  The entire fence is now up and we are just doing the minor tweaks, clipping it all together and gates etc.  This is quite a slow and fiddleyprocess but the end is now in site. 

It’s been a long time since we posted an update on how our grassland and eastern barred bandicoot sanctuary is going.  I’m glad to say we can give you some exciting news on multiple fronts. There have been plenty of developments that will enhance the sanctuary and help us improve biodiversity into the future. 

Firstly, let’s talk bandicoots! We had our first biannual monitoring session this year in May. Our numbers continue to grow, and the overall health of the animals is pleasing. They passed their physical check-ups without any concerns and were discovered all across the 235 Hectare reserve, which is pleasing.    

We caught 56 in total over three days!   

This number is reduced to 43 unique individuals as some were caught multiple times. Most likely as they got the taste for our yummy peanut butter balls to lure them into the traps! There was a nice balance of males to females and plenty of pouch young were seen as well. So, plenty of little ones on the way out of the pouch to explore their new home. 

The other exciting news is we have worked with our partners at DEECA to secure funding to upgrade the sanctuary predator fence. The current fence is over 30 years old and not the best design for keeping the pesky foxes at bay. This new fence is the most modern and up to date design in predator control.   

This time we have chosen a fence that will keep the pests out but also keep the animals in that we want. This means that we are looking to add more local grassland threatened species into the sanctuary to live alongside our bandicoots.  These are very excitingtimes, and we are currently undertaking a study to see what new animals will be most suitable to include.    

This fence will also enable us to take care of threatened wildlife that has been affected but Australia’s harsh bushfires.  We will house threatened species until their habitat returns so we can safely return them to their original habitat.  We have currently built 3.3 kilometres of the 6.4 required. A few more months of construction to go.  

This new adventure is going to continuously require maintenance, for us to be extremely flexible and fleet footed when situations arrive. So, any help and assistance that you afford us will be greatly appreciated and help us go a long way to the exciting challenges that lie ahead. 

Thanks to Parks Victoria, CVA team and all the wonderful volunteers.