A rabbit’s ears, a kangaroo’s legs and a very pointed nose: that’s the Macrotis lagotis, or Australian bilby. This doughty little creature burrows spiral tunnels in the ground and prefers to live down there alone. It is only active at night and feeds itself primarily on insects and larvae. The most important thing, though, is that the bilby has survived. Human settlement of the Australian countryside, pursuit by dingoes and foxes and competition from the country’s literally countless wild rabbits have threateningly decimated the remaining stocks, while the smaller variant of this long-nosed omnivore was already extinct 50 years ago.
Rescue for the Bilby near
If the native marsupial was to be rescued, not only targeted action was required – but also really good publicity. With the Anti Rabbit Research Fund of Australia, now the Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia, aiming to reawaken public awareness of the country’s rabbit problem, that materialized. Australia’s rabbit problems started like this: the 24 wild specimens imported in 1859 to provide shooting sport have proliferated to become into a massive plague on the country. Despite decades of measures to prevent rabbits multiplying, today the national count runs to several hundred million. Rabbits wreck the plant world of many stretches of country and thus the habitat of numerous native species of animal. They damage meadows and cultivated areas, aggravating soil erosion.
A rabbit’s ears, a kangaroo’s legs and a very pointed nose: that’s the Macrotis lagotis, or Australian bilby. © Susan FlashmanA new icon for conservation
Let’s put an end to the free annual Easter promotion for such an environmental vandal, decided the conservationists of the Anti Rabbit Research Fund back in 1991. They proclaimed the bilby as the standard-bearer of their movement and launched their Easter Bilby Campaign. In 1993 they had the first chocolate manufacturers mould Easter bilbies, with part of the proceeds being donated towards rescue measures for the creatures. Some chocolate makers are still actively engaged in the campaign. Yet it is the Bilby Brothers from Queensland who have become the true heroes of the battle to save the bilby.
Dedicated heroes in pursuit of conservation
Zoologist Peter McRae and ranger Frank Manthey wanted to secure a reserve for the bilbies where they could move about undisturbed and once again multiply. They collected donations, organized demonstrations, did PR work; they activated politicians, the chocolate manufacturers, the trade and people in Australia generally. All this with one sole objective: to settle the endangered species inside Currawinya National Park. The two of them were successful. By 2000 a first section of fencing was already up, and Conservation Volunteers Australia then spent an entire year fencing the new reserve in hot, dry Queensland. The chocolate Easter Bilby looked after the financial backing. Today the Save the Bilby fund set up by Frank Manthey is still actively promoted by one manufacturer of chocolate bilbies.
The smaller variant of this long-nosed omnivore was already extinct 50 years ago. © Susan FlashmanThe Bilby Lives On
Officially decreed by the Federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, since 2005 there has been a National Bilby Day. The little town of Charleville in Queensland bears the proud title "Bilby Capital of Australia“. The fence in Currawinya National Park has been completed, protecting the bilbies from their natural foes in an area of 25 square kilometres. Bilbies are growing up again at Adelaide Zoo, in a region where they were already extinct. Australia may still enjoy chocolate bunnies for Easter. But there are bilbies as well – in chocolate and as live creatures.