Early in 2009, the Australian Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, stopped scientists from trying to set up a captive breeding program. He said that the bats were too hard to catch, and no one knew how to keep them alive in cages. Instead, he announced a program to breed a similar bat in the Northern Territory of Australia. Scientists would learn about caring and breeding bats, then use this information to save the Christmas Island Pipistrelle. Other scientists had said this would take too long, and the bats would become extinct. Scientists believed that by June 2009 there were only four of the bats left in the world. In July 2009, the Australian Government changed its earlier decision and said that it would try to capture the last of the bats and use them to try and breed more bats in captivity. During August and September 2009 scientists searched for the remaining bats to catch them and protect them. At the end of August only one bat had been heard. Scientists tried to catch this bat, but it has not been heard from since the night of 26 August. It is now believed that the bat is extinct. This may be one of the few times that the extinction of a species in the wild can be known to the exact day. Scientists will continue to search for the bat, but there has been no signs of the bat since.