Surprise find of six joeys in pouches of endangered brush-tailed rock wallabies a 'career highlight' for rangers
By Ainslie Drewitt-Smith and Caroline PerrymanThe team behind a brush-tailed rock wallaby breeding program in New South Wales is celebrating following the birth of six joeys.
Rangers working for conservation organisation Aussie Ark had been conducting annual pouch checks of the endangered wallabies at its Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary this week when the joeys were discovered.
"It's a very exciting time," ranger Riley Tydeman said.
"We've been working with the species since 2018 and over those six years we've had 11 born.
"These six are phenomenal news for the population up here and the wild population."
The brush-tailed rock wallaby is regarded as Australia's most vulnerable wallaby.
The species is extinct in Victoria and the ACT and has been deemed vulnerable in Queensland and New South Wales.
The conservation facility at Barrington Tops is now home to 25 brush-tailed rock wallabies following the recent additions.
'Really valuable for the greater good'
Mr Tydeman said it was a delicate operation capturing the female wallabies and checking their pouches.
"They are pretty quick so it's a little bit of a process," he said.
"We are able to trap the rock wallaby in their enclosure and on the day of trapping we do the pouch checking just afterwards to make sure there is a minimal amount of stress for our animals."
The breeding program was supported by rangers from Symbio Wildlife Park in the Wollongong suburb of Helensburgh.
Symbio managing director Matt Radnidge said receiving news of the joey births was an incredible moment for his staff who helped conduct health checks and sanctuary maintenance as part of the species-saving program.
"It's career highlight stuff for them," he said.
"It would be the best thing that they've experienced because we all work in this industry for a love of animals, for a passion for wildlife and the environment but it's really valuable for the greater good."
Mr Radnidge said the joeys would continue to grow in their mothers' pouches for six months, with their development monitored by rangers from a distance.
"We use a lot of secondary observation with animals, how they move, where they spend their time, how they drink, what are they eating," he said.
"We like to keep a hands-off approach as best as possible and only intervene if absolutely necessary.
"I'd like to think the next time we see [the joeys] they will be poking a soft little velvety, fluffy head out of the pouch," Mr Radnidge said.