Queenslanders have been urged to buy Easter bilby chocolates rather than bunnies – but to also ensure the brand actually raises money for the endangered species.
Save the Bilby Fund chief executive Kevin Bradley said chocolate bilbies were a better choice than rabbits for an Easter treat.
Mr Bradley said rabbits were an introduced, invasive species and competed with bilbies for burrows and food.
"[Bilbies are] struggling in the wild every single day due to the predation of the red fox and the feral cat, that we introduced here into Australia," Mr Bradley said.
"Bilbies really are on the tipping point, they're still on the brink of extinction and they're doing it tough in the wild."
But Mr Bradley said people should be careful to check the chocolate bilby brand they planned to buy actually raised money for the cause.
"We ask people to check the green swing tag – it will always tell you that there's a percentage of sales going to the Bilby Fund," he said.
"Some bilbies contribute to other worthwhile causes, some bilbies don't contribute to anything at all.
"So please be buyer-aware."
Bilby-friendly brands include Bush Friends and Pink Lady.
Mr Bradley said there could be as few as 400 to 600 bilbies left in the wild in Queensland.
"But what's of more concern is that bilbies have disappeared from 80 per cent of their original range from when we first arrived in Australia 200 years ago," he said.
"Australia has an appalling extinction record, with 29 species of mammal gone forever."
Surprisingly, Mr Bradley said some Aussies thought bilbies were actually a "mythical creature".
"We hope that people will recognise that bilbies are real animals," he said.
But luckily education over the years has spread the word about the native marsupial.
"I would say 20 years ago very few Australians believed that a bilby existed or knew what one was," he said.
"Now lots and lots of people do actually [know what they are] because of our work and the work of others – they do believe bilbies exist."
Environment Minister Steven Miles agreed bilbies were a better choice than rabbits, which were a pest.
"The Save the Bilby Fund and these chocolate bilbies helped to raise funds for the original bilby fence [at Currawinya National Park in western Queensland] which was sadly penetrated by cats in 2011-2012 after those floods," Dr Miles said.
"This year, the government in conjunction with Save the Bilby Fund have been able to repair that fence and Kevin's just told me we think there's only one cat left inside to get rid of."
The Queensland government is also working with the Save the Bilby Fund and other conservation organisations in a multi-million public-private partnership to develop a national recovery plan for bilbies.
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