NZ wallabies dying on re-introduction to Australia

One of the tammar wallabies sent from Kawau Island to South Australia. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Dozens of wallabies re-introduced to a South Australian national park from Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf have died.

Only 14 of the 46 NZ tammar wallabies released into a new life at Innes National Park in the past 12 months have survived, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times reported.

Of the first 10 tammar wallabies released 12 months ago, only four are still alive, and of the second batch of 36 animals released in June, 10 have survived.

The South Australian wallaby subspecies, scientifically known as Macropus eugenii, are the smallest wallaby species. They weigh between 5 and 7kg and were the first animals recorded in Australia by European explorers.

Around 1900, tammars were so numerous on South Australia's Eyre, Yorke and Fleurieu peninsulas that landholders held regular culling drives and by 1925, the subspecies was probably extinct on the mainland.

However, in 1998 it was discovered that the genes of the subspecies were rescued 135 years ago when Governor Sir George Grey released a handful of tammar wallabies on Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf in 1870.

Australian Department of Environment and Heritage staff running the re-introduction told the newspaper that though 14 surviving animals might not seem significant, people working on the recovery project were more than happy with its success so far.

"Like all native species re-introduction programmes, there is no quick fix," the spokesman said.

"The tammars have had their share of setbacks with extreme weather and foxes claiming several individuals.

"Despite this, the project has been an enormous success so far with fit, healthy animals surviving in a controlled area."

At least three of the tammars had successfully bred in the wild, and had young, which were due to soon leave the pouch.

For this to occur in the first year of release highlighted the project's success, the spokesman said.

Reproduction would be closely monitored again for the next 12 months and the research group plans to release more animals soon.

The Australian Government's Natural Heritage Trust has put A$340,000 ($363,100) with contributions from New Zealand's Department of Conservation and other groups including the University of California and Adelaide Zoo.

Australian wildlife officials initially said two other wallaby species Sir George Grey transferred to Kawau Island -- the parma and the brush-tailed rock wallabies -- were also potentially valuable conservation resources, as their Australian counterparts had suffered severe population declines in recent years.

The Kawau Island Pohutukawa Trust has DOC-sanctioned plans to rid Kawau of wallabies by 2006.

- NZPA