Saving the tiny but beautiful yellow-and-black-striped southern corroboree frog from extinction in the next five years will cost $3.7 million, and it is only one of 20 species that Zoos Victoria want to save.
For the first time it has put a dollar figure on the cost of saving animal species from extinction in Victoria and around the world. Zoos Victoria has just released its first five-year conservation master plan to inspire philanthropists, schools, corporations and individuals to donate enough money to save a particular animal from extinction. It estimates it needs $30 million to save the species and can only provide $10 million of its own money.
Costs range from $30,000 to assess the eastern quoll's needs, up to $4.27 million to save the leadbeater's possum and helmeted honeyeater through new breeding facilities and restored habitats.
Some animals were potentially already extinct, such as the stuttering frog and grassland earless dragon, and the zoo wanted money to look for any survivors.
"Quite often the zoo is told at the 11th hour when a species is nearly extinct," said the director wildlife conservation and science at Zoos Victoria, Rachel Lowry. This was because government agencies, academics or landholders withheld information until it was nearly too late.
The new list identified species with declining populations that were likely to become extinct within a decade. Some were only found in Victoria, while others already rely heavily on Zoos Victoria for survival, and abandoning those animals would be unethical, Ms Lowry said.
While the Lord Howe Island stick insect was not native to Victoria, Melbourne Zoo was the only one able to breed the insects, she said. It needed $465,000 to avoid extinction. Foreign animals on the list include the Philippine crocodile and Grevy's zebra from Northern Kenya.
"We are not relying on just breeding animals and putting them out in the wild and hoping that will do the job, ... there is a lot of innovation in the plan," Ms Lowry said. For example, it includes $580,000 to set up a squad of highly trained dogs to protect endangered animals from foxes. This was based on the successful use of Maremma dogs on Middle Island, near Warrnambool, to protect the local penguin population.
The five-year total costs were created because animal-lovers were getting "donor fatigue" and wanted to know the total cost needed to save an animal, rather than being asked for small sums every year.
However, saving species from the brink of extinction was not supported by all conservationists. Professor Hugh Possingham from the University of Queensland has previously told Fairfax Media that money and research should focus on keeping animals off the threatened list, rather than trying too late to save them.
