Image credit: Sabrina Trocini
The woylie is a small marsupial (animals with a pouch in which females carry their young) that lives on the Australian continent. Distantly related to the kangaroo, they once occupied most of the Australian mainland. However, by the 1970s their numbers were reduced to only three areas. Worsening until 1992 it was reported in only four small locations in Western Australia.
After the woylie was listed in the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 and included in wildlife conservation programs such as the Australian Department of Environment and Conservation's (DEC) Western Shield, the woylie was succesfully restablished in many areas with substancial increases in population. The woylie was even the first species to be removed from listing under the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992.