Smoky mouse translocation program helps population grow in southern NSW
By Isla Evans and Floss Adams
ABC South East NSW
Topic:Conservation
6m ago6 minutes agoSun 16 Mar 2025 at 10:33pm
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In short:
Ecologists have had early success in a fresh attempt to reintroduce the native smoky mouse to a protected area in southern NSW.
Experts say the first groups of released mice are breeding and repopulating the South East Forest National Park.
What's next?
Up to nine other locally extinct animals will be released into the predator-free zone and monitored in the coming years.
The critically endangered smoky mouse is not your average rodent.
Three times larger than a house mouse, with a soft blue-grey fur and bright beady eyes, this rare and cryptic animal has been the focus of a group of ecologists in southern NSW for the past decade.
"It's a worthwhile effort to save what is a pretty interesting animal," senior threatened species officer Fred Ford said.
A mouse in a container with bark and woodchips.
The smoky mouse weighs up to 50 grams. (Supplied: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service)
After it was first spotted in NSW in 1994, the smoky mouse was not seen along the NSW far south coast or in Victoria's East Gippsland region for decades.
But attempts to repopulate a region in southern NSW began with a smoky mouse breeding program in 2016.
Dr Ford, who works for the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, said more than 50 of the mice had been translocated into the South East Forest National Park since last September, and the results so far had been "encouraging".
A man and a woman sitting in the bush conducting tests.
Fred Ford (right) says the mice are an "unusual animal" that nest communally. (Supplied: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service)
"There's always a doubt with captive animals that they're going to take to wildlife," Dr Ford said.
"If we've got six months of survival, that's more than enough to say they're capable of living in this environment.
"How they're moving through the environment is very natural, in the way we'd expect wild mice to move. They're finding natural food sources very quickly."
Two women working in the Australian bushland.
There are plans to introduce around 120 mice into the protected area each year for the next two years. (Supplied: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service)
'Worst mammal extinction rate'
The smoky mouse is the first of up to nine threatened species to be re-introduced to the Nungatta predator-free area in the South East Forest National Park.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife ecologist Katie Oxenham said animal extinction in Australia was largely caused by feral species.
"Australia does have the worst mammal extinction rate in the world,"
Ms Oxenham said.
"There's quite a number of small-to-medium-sized mammals that have gone extinct."
The long-footed potoroo, the eastern quoll and the New Holland mouse are among the species set to be released into the Nungatta predator-free zone, which has been chosen in part due to the lack of humans in the area.
"There are no campgrounds or walking trails in this area, it wasn't interfering with other park use," Ms Oxenham said.
The predator-free area is surrounded by a 1.8-metre-high fence, which Ms Oxenham said was "critical to the success of the project".
Two women holding crates while walking through an Australian bushland setting.
Katie Oxenham (right) says smoky mice play an important role in the ecosystem. (Supplied: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service)
"We're hoping to create a safe haven within the fence from which they [the mice] can come and go, and hopefully repopulate the landscape more broadly," she said.
"[The fence] has a floppy top that prevents feral predators from climbing over it, and it has two hot wires around its perimeter.
"They'll get a nasty shock if they do try to climb."
A tall wire fence in the bush, with a lot of fog in the air.
The Nungatta feral animal-free area will eventually be over almost 65,000 hectares of national park. (Supplied: National Parks and Wildlife Service)
There are plans to translocate another 120 mice each year for the next few years.
Ms Oxenham said project's initial success was a good sign for ecologists, after a failed attempt to re-introduce the species in 2022.
"It feels really great to be seeing some good outcomes for this species,"
she said.
"That makes all the effort and all the challenges really worthwhile."
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Posted6m ago6 minutes agoSun 16 Mar 2025 at 10:33pm
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