Perth Zoo’s Native Species Breeding Program has reached its 30th anniversary. Established in 1996, it has bred or reared more than 6,000 animals across 11 species for release into the wild, run in partnership with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and other conservation groups.
“Western Australia is home to some of the most unique and extraordinary wildlife in the world, some of which would be in considerable trouble without the zoo’s efforts,” said Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn. “It has played a critical role in protecting these species for generations to come.”
Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds have all come through the program over the three decades. It now concentrates on four priority species: the numbat, western swamp tortoise, white-bellied frog, and hairy marron.
The numbat is the one most Western Australians know, and Perth Zoo is the only facility in the world breeding them. More than 325 zoo-born numbats have been released to bolster existing wild populations and establish new ones elsewhere in Australia. In July the International Union for Conservation of Nature moved the species from endangered to near threatened on its Red List, naming the zoo’s breeding work as a key factor. The numbat is still listed as endangered under national environment law, with an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 left in the wild.
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“The recent downlisting of the numbat highlights the value of long-term conservation partnerships and the important role Perth Zoo continues to play in species recovery,” Swinbourn said.
The other three priority species the zoo has bred and released include 1,148 critically endangered western swamp tortoises, Australia’s rarest reptile, which survives in a handful of ephemeral swamps on the Swan Coastal Plain. It has reared and released 1,553 white-bellied frogs, a species confined to a small pocket of the South West. And since a breeding program for the critically endangered hairy marron began in 2022, more than 286 craylings have hatched. The hairy marron lives in the upper reaches of the Margaret River and nowhere else on earth.
The work goes well past breeding. Zoo science staff and wildlife conservation specialists handle genetics-based breeding management, reproductive monitoring, habitat design, and species-specific care to prepare animals for release, and the research coming out of that has fed into recovery plans and improved care techniques across the state.
