Bandicoot bodyguards could stop extinction

Sheepdogs have proven they can protect little penguins, so now they are to become the personal bodyguards of endangered bandicoots.

A squad of six Maremma guardian dogs will protect a group of Eastern Barred Bandicoots from feral cats and foxes when they are released into the wild in western Victoria.

The endangered bandicoot was thought lost to Victoria until less than 50 of them were rediscovered living amongst a pile of wrecked cars at the Hamilton tip in the late 1980s.

Melbourne Zoo went on to breed 650 bandicoots, with many released at protected feral-proof fenced areas in Hamilton, Mount Rothwell and Woodlands Historic Park.

Now, inspired by the Middle Island Maremma Project, where the sheepdogs successfully protected little penguins near Warrnambool, the bandicoots will soon be released onto private land at Tiverton Station as part of a state government and community funded trial.