Bilbies spotted outside the fence at Currawinya

While Save the Bilby Fund CEO Kevin Bradley was excited by a chance sighting of a bilby on the outside of the fence built to keep the rare creatures from decimation while they bred up, he is apprehensive about its chances.

It's a decade since the 25 square kilometre exclusion fence was breached by feral cats in weather conditions not unlike those predicted for this year, undoing a lot of the fund's good work.

The fence was reinstalled in 2018 with state government funding assistance, and bilby numbers have grown from the initial 36 released to well over 200.

Mr Bradley said that as much as their numbers have grown significantly at Currawinya, so have cat detections on the outside of the fence perimeter.

"I have seen a 1000 per cent increase since September of last year," he said. "It has been extremely concerning to see such large numbers of predators right outside."

He has been actively controlling feral cats around the fence to keep the pressure off but says to reintroduce them to the wild, feral animal management has to be seriously addressed.

"The issue with feral cats is, there hasn't been a lot of effort applied for a long, long time, because they've never really posed a threat to agriculture," he said.

"Unlike a lot of our other invasive pests that have had millions and millions of dollars spent on them, unfortunately feral cats have flown under the radar.

"But like everything, we've got to start somewhere."

He acknowledges that it's unrealistic to aim to get rid of every feral cat in the country - they occupy 99 per cent of the Australian mainland - but would like to see bilbies given the best chance possible of surviving in the wild.

Bilbies didn't evolve with a high order predator - dingoes are and thylacines were largely scavengers rather than hunters - and so they lack the awareness needed to co-habitate with feral pests.

"What we need are bilbies that can survive in the presence of introduced predators," Mr Bradley said.

"We need to give our species enough time to be able to evolve, to cope in the presence of a highly evolved predator.

"I always say, we put man on the moon.

"That would have seemed impossible and yet, there was a will and a genuine interest and investment to be able to achieve something."

Bilbies might be the last of Australia's arid bandicoot species left in existence but research on their habits and genetics has only been taking place for 20 years.

One of the lucky few with an intimate knowledge of the elusive nocturnal creature is University of Queensland PhD student Cass Arkinstall, who could easily fit the moniker of Bilby Whisperer.

As Save the Bilby Fund CEO Kevin Bradley recalls, particular bilbies within the predator-proof enclosure at the Currawinya National Park in south west Queensland could smell her shoes, and she could vocalise to them.

"There was one male, if I crunched around enough in his territory, he'd come and chase me," Ms Arkinstall said. "You couldn't turn your back on him because he'd be at the back of your legs trying to nip you."

It's not the usual perspective people have, of a cute cuddly marsupial that's become Australia's version of an Easter Bunny, but the need to battle for territory and the naivety they have in relation to feral pests is one Ms Arkinstall knows she's privileged to have.

She began her research in the field in 2019 and become so familiar with the quirks of the 36 bilbies released into the area, and their offspring, that some of them have names.

Some of them are very social creature, visiting different burrows nightly, while others are homebodies, such as the female that stayed in one burrow for the whole four months of tracking.

Ms Arkinstall uses GPS trackers attached to the bilbies' tails, because they don't have a neck suitable for a collar, all in the name of understanding the consequences of fencing a population of native animals.

"I basically want to know what home range size the bilby has, what kind of space do they need, to see how much of the exclosure they're using."

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