Students raise $660 for bilbies

Umina Primary School students have raised $660 to help save bilbies from extinction.

The students took part in National Bilby Day on Friday, September 8, by selling 330 bilby pins at school.

The money raised will be sent to Save the Bilby Fund operating in Chareville, Queensland.

"Two hundred years ago Greater Bilbies occupied more than 70 per cent of mainland Australia; however today their numbers are estimated around 900 to 1000 in total," according to teacher Ms Sonja Stein.

"The Lesser Bilby is now extinct.

"Loss of habitat and competition for food are two main reasons for the bilbies declining population numbers.

"The increased risk from predators such as foxes, and feral cats has also contributed to bilbies becoming rarer," she said.

Currawinya National Park near Chareville has been established as a bilby sanctuary, and is surrounded by an electrified predator-proof fence.

"There they have a bilby breeding program and hope to release bilbies back into their natural desert habitats," said Ms Stein.

To find out more about the bilby and how these threatened nocturnal marsupials may be saved from extinction, go to www.savethebilbyfund.com.

Press release, September 12 Sonja Stein, Umina Primary School