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Thursday 30 June 2005
Nasty Chook Killers or Cute and Furry Natives?
Trish Mason and Ian Puddefoot from Glenella Park were happy to bring along some Northern Quolls for people to meet. Glenella Park, who entered this year's awards received sponsorship funding to help with their Northern Quoll Breeding Program that they developed in response to the cane toad invasion. If you know someone who is doing the right thing by the environment, encourage them to enter our annual Environmental Excellence Awards. For more information freecall 1800 245 092. Described as nasty chook killers, preyed on by feral cats and dogs and with cane toads taking over their habitats, the cute and not so cuddly Northern Quoll is definitely on the endangered list. And the future captive breeding stock of these species are currently as big as a grain of rice and living in their mothers’ pouch. The fate of the quoll now rests in the hands of a Howard Springs family who decided to help this little critter get off the critically endangered list. Trish Mason along with her partner Ian and their 12-year old son Steve set about creating Glenella Park, a breeding facility in Howard Springs, three years ago after realising the quolls were declining at an alarming rate, consistent with the approach of cane toads.
“Now there are 24 pairs of breeding age quolls in captivity, and we expect this number to increase by the end of this year, thanks to the babies that were born recently.” While the babies are now about the size of a grain of rice and clinging to their mothers, in about four months time they will be big enough to send to wildlife parks and zoos all over Australia. “To ensure the sustainability of this species, there has to be 400 animals (200 pairs) capable of breeding throughout Australia,” said Trish. “All the breeding pairs that exist in Australia today originated from Glenella Park.” Recently Glenella Park received financial assistance through the Power and Water Corporation’s community sponsorship program. Trish says the money will be used to expand the facilities at Glenella Park. “This is the first financial assistance we have ever received – we just don’t fit into grant categories from other departments,” said Trish. “We’re going to use the money to expand our facilities. We should be able to double our holding capacity, which will mean we will be able to breed even more quolls to help sustain the species.” Contact: Trish Mason at Glenella Park on 0407 819 252 Quolls from Glenella Park will be in the Power and Water Corporation’s stand at this year’s NT Expo, on Saturday 9 July. Contact: |
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If you attended this year's NT Expo you may have met some Northern Quolls at Power and Water Corporation's stand. This year's stand promoted the winners of the 2005 Environmental Excellence Awards - our Great Green Giants. These Giants won awards for their efforts in looking after the environment. 
“When we first started three years ago, there were 18 quolls in captivity, and only one capable of breeding,” said Trish.