Fifteen bilbies to leave theme park for life on the wild side

Breeding pairs of Queensland's endangered bilby will be released into a national park enclosure in a bid to improve and restock wild populations.

Thirteen adult greater bilbies and two joeys will soon leave their home at Dreamworld to spread their big ears in a predator-proof enclosure at Currawinya National Park, about 800 kilometres west of Brisbane.

The 25 square kilometre enclosure is in line to get a $700,000 upgrade from the state government after it was badly damaged by flooding in 2011 and 2012.

The existing greater bilby population at the time was decimated after feral cats, the bilby's main threat, managed to get through the enclosure's damaged fence.

Environment Minister Steven Miles said the breeding program at Dreamworld, along with the investment to upgrade and maintain the fence over the next two years, would see the breeding pairs and joeys thrive.

Greater bilbies breed when they are six months old and can produce up to eight young in a year.

"Ultimately, we hope to see 40 bilbies eventually released into the predator-proof enclosure," Dr Miles said.

"We hope this will lead to a viable population that can help restock other wild populations."

Save the Bilby Fund chief executive Kevin Bradley said he had worked with Wildpest Management throughout the summer months to remove feral cats from the enclosure.

"We have removed five females and two males since September last year," he said.

"If we didn't get those cats, they could've been responsible for producing up to 40 feral cats that potentially could be inside the enclosure today.

"The feral cat control program is scheduled to continue outside the enclosure in the Currawinya National Park to reduce any further risk of feral cats entering the enclosure."

Dreamworld general manager of life sciences Al Mucci said having bilbies breed wasn't a problem.

"We are ramping up the breeding program to facilitate releases into the Currawinya National Park," Mr Mucci said.

Bilby populations in Queensland are restricted to the far west parts of the state, including Astrebla Downs National Park and Diamantina National Park.

The greater bilby is the size of a rabbit, with a long, pointed nose, blue-grey fur, big ears and a crested black and white tail.

Before the arrival of foreign predatory animals to Australia, the greater bilby ranged over most of the mainland, however there were now only a few pocket populations, according to a Queensland government website.

Bilbies tend to live alone or in pairs and make spiral-shaped burrows to keep them safe during the day before they search for food at night.

Rather than exerting themselves by creating new burrows, some greater bilbies repair and use old burrows, some of which are hundreds of years old.

Greater bilby populations also exist in the Great Sandy, Gibson and Tanami deserts in central Australia, the Pilbara and west Kimberley in Western Australia and some areas in South Australia and New South Wales.