Calls to protect declining eastern quoll populations

Updated June 30, 2014 07:42:27

There are fears the eastern quoll could follow the severe population decline of the Tasmanian devil, prompting calls for insurance populations to be established.

The carnivorous marsupial was once abundant across Australia but is now only found in parts of Tasmania.

In recent years numbers have declined dramatically with no sign of recovery.

They seem to be declining and certainly heading towards the endangered category, if they're not already there.

Mark Eldridge
Australian Museum

University of Tasmania researcher Menna Jones found the remaining Tasmanian population has a low genetic variation.

"If a species loses genetic diversity, it loses adaptability, it loses the chance that it can adapt to new environments, new situations, such as climate change," Ms Jones said.

Insurance population call

Mark Eldridge from Sydney's Australian Museum recommended insurance populations be established to avoid extinction.

"They're not currently listed as endangered or threatened, they probably should be given that recent trapping over the last 10 years and monitoring of the populations have shown that there's been a decline of about 50 per cent," he said.

"So they seem to be declining and certainly heading towards the endangered category, if they're not already there."

Ms Jones agreed.

"I think we do need to have insurance populations outside of Tasmania, as well as inside Tasmania, to protect the species in the long term," she said.

Healesville Sanctuary runs a conservation program for the Tasmanian devil.

It is now assessing whether a similar program is needed for the eastern quoll.

In a yet-to-be-released report, Zoos Victoria said it would look at whether the species requires zoo-based intervention and if it would benefit from returning eastern quolls to Victoria more than half a century after it was lost from the mainland due to predation and habitat loss.

In 2012, Tasmania's former Labor government rejected an application to put the marsupial on the endangered species list.

Scientists want the new State Government to reconsider the listing.

Topics: marsupials, animals, academic-research, endangered-and-protected-species, hobart-7000, launceston-7250, healesville-3777

First posted June 29, 2014 11:07:35