Quolls and bettongs join bilbies and bandicoots as locally extinct species reintroduced to NSW national park

A bilby is released as part of the Wild Deserts project in NSW’s Sturt national park, where a bilby population now flourishes. Photograph: Richard Freeman/Wild Deserts/UNSW

Quolls and bettongs delivered to the far north-west corner of New South Wales are the final piece of a decade-long project to reintroduce seven locally extinct mammals to the arid desert landscape.

Twenty burrowing bettongs and 20 western quolls have been released into Sturt national park as part of the Wild Deserts project. They joined previously released and flourishing populations of bilbies, bandicoots and mulgaras (a small but ferocious native predator).