Australia's biodiversity crisis is among the world's most severe — the continent has recorded the highest rate of mammal extinction globally since European settlement. More than 100 species have been lost in the last 200 years. The primary causes are habitat clearing, invasive species (particularly cats and foxes), and altered fire regimes. Rewilding — the large-scale restoration of natural processes and species — offers a bold approach to reversing this collapse. Grant funding supports predator reintroduction, fenced ecosanctuaries, large-scale habitat restoration, and the recovery programmes that bring back lost species.
The extinctions
Primary drivers
Australia's unique fauna
Australia's mammals, birds, reptiles, and plants are extraordinarily unique — most are found nowhere else on Earth. Losing them means losing irreplaceable evolutionary lineages.
Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of natural processes:
- Reintroducing locally extinct species
- Controlling invasive predators (cats, foxes) to allow native wildlife to recover
- Restoring habitat connectivity (wildlife corridors)
- Allowing natural processes (fire, flood, predation) to resume
- Fenced ecosanctuaries (predator-free areas)
Australian rewilding has distinctive elements:
- Fenced ecosanctuaries (given apex predator absence)
- Dingo restoration (controversial but evidence-based)
- Reintroduction of locally extinct mammals into predator-controlled areas
- Bilby, quoll, bandicoot, and bettong reintroductions
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
NHMRC and ARC
Research funding on conservation and rewilding.
State environment departments
Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC)
Largest private conservation organisation — manages 35+ wildlife sanctuaries:
- Predator-free fenced sanctuaries
- Species reintroduction programmes
- Fire management
Rewilding Australia
Advocacy and research on rewilding, including apex predator restoration.
Zoos Victoria
Captive breeding and species reintroduction.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
International support for Australian species.
Taronga Conservation Society
Captive breeding and reintroduction.
Tietyens Foundation
Australian wildlife conservation.
The Myer Foundation
Environment and biodiversity.
Fenced ecosanctuaries
Species reintroduction
Invasive species control
Habitat restoration
Fire management
Marine rewilding
Research
Community rewilding
The reintroduction of Tasmanian devils to mainland Australia — absent for approximately 3,000 years — is one of rewilding's most exciting Australian examples. Rewilding Australia partnered with Aussie Ark to release devils into a predator-free fenced area in NSW:
- First mainland births in 3,000 years recorded
- Research into ecological impact of devil reintroduction
- Potential for Tasmanian devil as an apex predator suppressing cat and fox populations
This project represents the ambition of rewilding — not just conservation of what remains, but active restoration of what was lost.
Scale ambition
Effective rewilding requires large-scale intervention — small patches of habitat cannot support viable wildlife populations. Applications that demonstrate landscape-scale thinking are more credible.
Invasive species control
No rewilding succeeds without invasive species management — particularly cats and foxes. Applications that integrate invasive species control with habitat restoration and species reintroduction are more comprehensive.
Monitoring and adaptive management
Rewilding is science-based — applications with strong monitoring frameworks, measuring ecological recovery, and adaptive management are more rigorous.
Indigenous partnership
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the original land managers of Australia. Rewilding applications with genuine Indigenous partnership — especially for cultural burning and country management — are more legitimate and more effective.
Tahua's grants management platform supports rewilding funders and conservation organisations — with project reach tracking, species monitoring data, habitat recovery measurement, and the reporting tools that help rewilding funders demonstrate their investment in bringing Australia's extraordinary wildlife back from the brink.