40 brushtail possums have been relocated from south Australia's Kangaroo Island to central Australia, in a bid to re-establish a population in the region. While common in capital cities and along much of the Australian coastline, the species is thought to have recently gone extinct, in the red centre.
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00:00Leaping into unfamiliar territory, these jet-setting possums were hand-picked by ecologists in
00:08Kangaroo Island.
00:09So our team have been out capturing possums and selecting the ones that have got the best
00:14attributes to be part of a new founding population into central Australia where they have become
00:20extinct.
00:21The 40 marsupials were boarded onto a charter flight to their new home.
00:25Touching down at New Haven Sanctuary, about four hours northwest of Alice Springs.
00:33It's hoped the critters will thrive in their new habitat and bring the species back to
00:38the region.
00:39In eastern states and in many metropolitan areas, these little guys have a bit of a bad
00:44reputation as pests, with a knack for nesting in roofs and digging up vegetable patches.
00:51Experts say the common brushtail possum is not actually as common as it once was.
00:56It's now only found in about 50% of its former range.
01:01Ecologists say that decline is partly due to an increase in hot, dry weather and more
01:06intense and frequent bushfires, which burn habitat and food trees.
01:12But the main concern is introduced predators, a problem the team has worked hard to address.
01:18We're releasing them into a feral predator-free enclosure so they're free of all their threats
01:22from cats and foxes and we expect them to find plenty of food.
01:26And the new inhabitants are expected to bring a host of benefits to the local ecosystem.
01:31So for brushtail possums, for example, one of their main functions is seed dispersal
01:37throughout its range.
01:38They also play a pretty important role culturally.
01:40A lot of the local indigenous people remember possums in their dream times and stories passed
01:47down from older generations.
01:48For the Anmatjara people from Larumba Aboriginal Community, where a group of elders are the
01:53guardians of the possum dreaming, told through song and dance, it was a welcome homecoming.
02:00It was good seeing the possums being released back to their country.
02:09A celebration of conservation and culture.