The remote forests of East Gippsland remain one of the final refuges of the Spot-tailed Quoll (STQ) — a remarkable native carnivore that has suffered a 50% population decline since European settlement.

In 2024, with the support of the Rendere Environmental Trust and BioDiversity Legacy, Wildlife Unlimited helped design — and now leads — a major flagship initiative to halt and reverse this decline in Victoria.

Powered by the Victorian Government’s Nature Fund program, the Spot-tailed Quoll Recovery Program will undertake comprehensive population monitoring and genetic assessments of wild STQs across East Gippsland. This essential data will guide the development of a captive management plan and future translocation strategy to strengthen long-term population resilience.

A defining feature of this project is its collaborative foundation. The program brings together cross-sector, multi-agency and First Nations partners to ensure the work is effective, inclusive and built to last. Key collaborators include Odonata, private landholders in the Upper Snowy region, the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and Parks Victoria.

Wildlife Unlimited brings deep expertise to the task, drawing on experience from large-scale initiatives such as the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby program. The STQ program is being led by ecologists Willow Bourke and Rachael Bartlett, whose fieldwork and scientific insights are central to the project’s success.

The team is currently trekking into some of East Gippsland’s most remote terrain to deploy 4G-enabled remote cameras — a crucial step in assessing population size, understanding behaviour and gathering the evidence needed to guide the next phase of this 10-year recovery effort.

Together, these partnerships and on-ground actions mark an important step toward securing a thriving future for the Spot-tailed Quoll in Victoria.