The cameras will also be used in our studies of feral predators (particularly cats) at Dryandra which will result in the design of an integrated feral predator control regime.

Feral predators are a serious issue for the Numbats in Dryandra and the use of camera traps is an important part of the work currently being undertaken.

We’ll be putting up photos from the camera traps on our website and Facebook page when they start to come through. The approximately $6500 for the cameras has been funded through donations and fundraising.

Numbat with Radio Collar. Photo courtesy of Perth Zoo.

Thanks to generous donations in a targeted fundraiser, Project Numbat has raised $4000 for Numbat radio-collars this year, enough for 16 Numbats. This is seven more than last year and is a fantastic result. The fundraiser is now closed but we are likely to run it again next year so stay tuned.

Most of the collars were used for 13 Numbats bred at Perth Zoo that were transported to Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Scotia Sanctuary in NSW on 13 December 2011 as part of a national Numbat recovery program.

Scotia Sanctuary already protects two wild populations from feral predators and these Numbats will boost numbers and add to the genetic pool.

All 13 Numbats were fitted with radio-collars so their release will be tracked.  The collars were purchased thanks to donors who contributed $250 each for the purchase of collars.

The money raised has gone to purchase two radio collars for this year’s release of Numbats.

We thank Rostrata PS for another fundraising barbecue and for another one coming up in early December.

Vicki Power, Renee Bauhofer and Rosemary Johnston talked to numerous enthusiastic children, teachers and parents, helping to spread the word about the Numbat and its threats. Vicki was a great hit as the ‘radio tracker extraordinaire’, taking groups of children on radio racking adventures to locate a radio collared stuffed toy Numbat hiding in the bushes of Kings Park! There was a great positive response from attendees with many keen to get involved with Project Numbat’s Education Program.

Thanks go to Kings Park for the opportunity to attend this event again this year.

There were no changes to the current committee and the constitution alterations were all passed unopposed. These will be forwarded to the Department of Commerce for ratification.

Thank you to everyone for your support of Project Numbat in 2010-11. We look forward to a productive and exciting 2011-12.

Download the 2010-11 Project Numbat Annual Report (pdf).

It was a successful day with about 1100 people coming through. We spoke to a number of people about our special little Numbat. Plenty of interest about what we do to help this endangered species and how they could get involved.

Thank you to CREEC for this opportunity.

Numbat faecal samples were collected for a year and are now being analysed by Perth Zoo Research Fellow Lindsay Hogan to determine when a female Numbat is at her peak breeding cycle, how long the cycle lasts and how many she has each season. This is the first time the Numbat’s reproductive cycle has been mapped hormonally.

Numbats breed in summer and have a short oestrus cycle (about 2–3 weeks) and a small window when they are receptive to successful mating (about 48 hours). Once the females’ reproductive cycles have been mapped, keepers can take a small urine sample at the start of the breeding season, determine if the female is following normal cycles and match their cycles with mating behaviour the keepers see. It will also let keepers know if an animal is infertile.

We are eagerly awaiting the results.

The children also made a donation of $164 to Project Numbat which we are very grateful for. Thanks, kids!

We’re looking forward to receiving the children’s stories and drawings on what they learned about Numbats to put on our website.

Following last year’s success, we are running another fundraiser for radio-collars. Each year, wild or captive born Numbats are fitted with radio collars each year by the Department of Environment and Conservation to track their movments, gain important information on their dispersal in their habitat and their survival.

In November and December 2011, DEC will be fitting a number of Numbats with radio-collars. The Numbats will either by wild caught or bred at Perth Zoo for release.

We are giving you the opportunity to be a part of this important work by contributing to the cost of the radio-collars.

Each collar costs $250 and for your contribution you will receive a certificate with a photo of the collared Numbat, its name, date of birth (if known), sex, weight of location.

All contributions are tax-deductible within Australia.

You will receive a letter of thanks and a receipt after we receive payment. Certificates will be sent in January 2012.

Particular thanks must go to our previous secretary, Janet Reid, as well as former committee member Karen Rusten for their work in getting Project Numbat to this stage.

The application was submitted in May last year but took this long to finalise due to the many signatures required to approve the application.

We’ve heard that nine months is actually pretty fast. Some organisations have waited up to three years to be approved, so well done to the committee for putting in an excellent application. The long and the short of it is, now you can make tax deductible donations of $2 or more to Project Numbat. Isn’t that great news?