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Italian sheepdogs trained to protect endangered Aust'n marsupial

Xinhua, November 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Italian sheepdogs are being trained to protect a critically endangered Australian marsupial in the wild.

Scientists from Zoos Victoria said that a group of maremmas, an Italian breed of guardian dog, will be able to protect the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, a rabbit-sized nocturnal bandicoot that will be released back into the wild in 2017. It is currently extinct in mainland Australia.

All previous attempts to release a population of the bandicoots into the Victorian wildlife, since it became extinct in 1991, have failed so the maremmas are being trained as a last-ditch attempt to protect the marsupials.

Linda van Bommel, an ecologist at the Australian National University (ANU) and member of the Zoos Victoria bandicoot conservation effort, said the marremas were chosen because of their size and ability to bond with and guard other species.

"Maremmas are pretty big dogs, they weigh 40 kilograms and if this big dog is present with the (bandicoots) and it moves around there the whole time it makes its presence known, the predators are going to stay away," van Bommel told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday.

Because the bandicoots are nocturnal, the maremma pups have been given a small flock of sheep to bond with during the day while the bandicoots sleep as well as the bandicoots to bond with at night while the sheep sleep.

"It's because the bandicoots are not going to be visible 24/7 they tend to be quite solitary, they are mainly night animals, whereas the dogs are very social, they crave the companionship of another species," van Bommel said.

"We thought it's probably easier to give them a small flock of sheep so they can get that companionship and they stay happy and it meets their social needs.

"We've got a bunch of puppies at the moment, they are all sort of in the middle of their training, but they are coming on really well."

Marissa Parrott, an ecologist at Werribee's Open Range Zoo, said that the bandicoot, which only exists in the wild in the island-state of Tasmania, had largely been wiped out by foxes and feral cats.

"They are our local Victorians, they are the ones we should be seeing when we are out driving at night and the ones we should be having in our own backyards," Parrott told the ABC.

"But without safety from foxes and cats that were introduced here we just don't see them anymore and they just can't survive out there." Endit