Aussie Ark Open Days – Barrington Tops
Sure, we all know travelling isn’t easy these days, let alone with the COVID developments of the past week, but why not meet up with Tasmania’s most famous resident during the holiday period? And you won’t even have to leave the Mid North Coast. Aussie Ark, one of Australia’s largest conservation facilities where they are working to ensure the future of the Tasmanian devil, has decided to open its doors again this summer. From January 1-27, visitors will be able to see how the organisation is fighting extinction of some of Australia’s most loved species. Aussie Ark is in the Barrington Tops and was established to keep the Tasmanian Devil alive, since increasing its breeding population from 44 ‘founding devils’ to more than 300.
“It is absolutely incredible that we’ve gone from that small number of founding devils to the massive programs we’ve got today,” marketing manager Amanda Woodbine tells Coastbeat.
“We only keep around 150 to 200 devils on site at any given time, and of the ones we breed, we get recommendations on where to send them to other breeding programs around the country.”
While some devils are used for ongoing breeding, others are sent back to their homeland to be released into smaller wild populations.
“We’ve released around 30 to 40 individuals and of those, we know around five females have carried joeys in the wild, which is really encouraging,” Amanda adds.
As well as the devils, Aussie Ark is also now home to eastern quolls, southern brown bandicoots, rufous bettongs, long nose poteroos, brush-tail rock wallabies and Manning River turtles. Guided tours are one hour in duration and will be run daily by Aussie Ark keepers at 10.30am, 11.30am and 12.30pm. Self-guided visits are not available, so guests will be included into the next guided tour after arrival. Each tour at each time on each day will vary as different enclosures are visited. Make sure you book before adventuring to Aussie Ark.
When: January 1-27
Where: Tomalla Road, Tomalla
www.aussieark.org.au/aaopendays
Coffs Harbour
