Dr Euan Ritchie from Deakin University recently launched an online fundraising to help him on his mission to save kangaroo and wallabies from extinction in northern Australia.
The ecologist said the funds would be put towards an extensive field survey, which he began over ten years ago in northern Queensland, which will require him to go back to the region west of Townsville and all the way to Cape York.
Ritchie during his first kangaroo survey in Queensland. Photo: Angus McColl.
Ritchie’s survey methods include kangaroo counts, camera trapping and kangaroo scat collecting.
“It’s probably the less glamourous aspect of the job, but we can tell a lot about a roo from its poo,” he said.
Jokes aside, Ritchie said the situation is in fact gravely serious, and that while we may see significant numbers of kangaroos in the southern states, the same can’t be said for the macropods of the north.
“We have genuine cause for concern because local Indigenous communities tell us they are seeing fewer and fewer kangaroos and wallabies. It may be because there are too many fires, many of them at the wrong time of the year, or perhaps just too many feral cats dining out on the smaller wallabies.”
So far, the ecologist’s fundraising activities have generated $13,000 of the $15,000 target he hopes to reach through Pozible.
Ritchie hopes that by following up on research that began more than 10 years ago, he’ll be able to offer a clearer picture on what can be done to save Australian mammals beyond the kangaroo and wallaby species he hopes to survey directly.
“Since 1788 we’ve lost more than 10 per cent of our native mammals, of which nearly a third are kangaroos and their close relatives. It’s devastating to think we could be on the road to losing more of these iconic Australian animals. We have a plan that will give us our best shot at conserving Australia’s northern kangaroos and wallabies.”