Aus state to buildfence for creating new wildlife protection area

Sydney, Oct 10 (IANS) The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has announced that it will commence building a 24 km specially-designed fence in December in creating a new safe haven for reintroduced native wildlife."Once complete, we'll start working to eradicate every feral predator from within it, before releasing locally extinct and threatened species that were once abundant back into Nungatta," the state's Environment Minister James Griffin said in a statement.According to the statement, the 2,084-hectare Nungatta site in South East Forest National Park near Bombala is the newest of seven feral free areas across the state, reports Xinhua news agency. Once established, the site is expected to benefit more than 20 threatened species."From next year, we're planning to reintroduce native mammals that were once abundant in this habitat, such as the long-footed potoroo, eastern bettong, smoky mouse, and eastern quoll," Griffin noted.As feral predators, such as foxes and cats, have threatened many vulnerable animals, the Nungatta conservation project is part of the state government's efforts in establishing a network of seven feral predator-free areas to restore wildlife.By its official count, once all seven sites are complete, 65,000 hectares of national parks will be feral free and provide a significant conservation benefit for over 50 species.
--IANS ksk/

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