By Jesse Graham
ENVIRONMENT Minister Lily D’Ambrosio has praised the work of Healesville Sanctuary’s captive breeding program, with a record number of Corroboree Frog eggs laid in the last year.
Ms D’Ambrosio, visiting the sanctuary on Wednesday, 7 September, announced that 592 Southern and 900 Northern Corroboree Frog eggs had been produced in the last year at the venue.
The announcement came on National Threatened Species Day, and Ms D’Ambrosio praised the work of sanctuary and Zoos Victoria employees for the successful breeding season.
“It’s really pleasing to announce that the very important, expert work that they’ve provided to support the Corroboree Frogs has been very, very successful,” she said.
The amount of Corroboree Frog eggs produced at the sanctuary in the last year is more than the last seven years combined.
“This will mean that these eggs will be released, will thrive and the importance of this fantastic, successful program really shows that when there is a dedication and a clear vision and support across a whole range of partners – backed up by Zoos Victoria, of course, the wonderful experts here at Healesville Sanctuary – we know that these threatened species have a really good, fighting chance of actually surviving,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
“Not just surviving, but thriving.”
Healesville Sanctuary’s Life Sciences Manager Kim Miller said there were only 14 Southern Corroboree Frog males calling in the wild this breeding season.
The animal is listed as critically endangered – one step away from extinct in the wild – and is threatened by the chytrid fungus.
“So efforts to breed and release the animal are really critical for their survival,” she said.
Ms D’Ambrosio announced that 98 groups working with threatened species would receive funding through the government’s Threatened Species Protection Initiative and Community Driven Action to Protect Victoria’s Unique Biodiversity program, to help protect other animals in danger of going extinct.
Zoos Victoria CEO Jenny Gray said that much of the work done at the sanctuary with threatened species was done in conjunction with volunteer or Friends Of groups – such as the Friends of Helmeted Honeyeater.
“Nothing is done on our own – what we really need is the community of Victoria to stand behind threatened species,” she said.
Ms Gray said children visiting the sanctuary are “building connections with wildlife” and learning more about Australian and endangered animals.
“They’re learning to care and they’re falling in love,” she said.
“And once you’ve fallen in love with little black and yellow frogs, then you care about what happens to them and you grow up to be a volunteer who makes a difference.”
