Full Breakdown
Expanding Australia’s Safe-Haven Network Beyond Mammals
8/13/2026, 7:44:07 AM
Research Findings on Existing Safe Havens
Researchers note that feral cats and foxes now roam across almost all of Australia, driving many native mammals toward extinction. Conservation authorities have responded by establishing “safe havens” – fenced islands or large enclosures such as Newhaven in the Northern Territory and Faure Island off Western Australia – where predators are removed and endangered mammals like the greater bilby and brush-tailed bettong can be re-introduced. While these sites have helped mammals recover, the authors’ analysis of 123 threatened reptiles, amphibians, birds and invertebrates found that only two species – the great desert skink and the western swamp tortoise – currently occur within existing havens.
Gaps for Non-Mammal Species
The study attributes the shortfall to the fact that most havens were designed primarily for mammals and therefore do not address the specific habitats or threats faced by other groups, such as black rats, invasive fish, or deadly fungal infections. Modeling of future species distributions, which incorporated climate-change projections, identified the top 1 % of priority locations for new havens aimed at non-mammal taxa. These priority areas cluster in eastern Australia and include the Victorian Alps, the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, and Tasmania’s Central Highlands.
Design Recommendations for Inclusive Havens
To protect a broader suite of species, the authors recommend several design adaptations:
- Finer-scale fencing or netting to exclude smaller invaders.
- Mini-havens in rugged terrain where extensive fencing is impractical.
- “Leaky” havens that allow native species to move while keeping invasive predators out, reducing genetic bottlenecks.
- Habitat-specific refuges, such as high-plateau wetlands for the green and golden bell frog, or isolated mesas that act as natural barriers.
Ecological and Management Implications
Keeping threatened animals in the wild restores ecological functions—soil turnover, seed dispersal, and predator-prey dynamics—that captive programs cannot replicate. However, the researchers caution that protected populations may lose natural wariness; once released beyond fence lines, they can be rapidly predated. Consequently, safe havens should be viewed as a temporary bridge toward larger landscape-level solutions rather than a permanent fix.
Next Steps
The authors call for the establishment of additional, threat-specific havens across the identified priority regions, emphasizing the need for flexible designs that can adapt to both current invasive pressures and projected climate-driven range shifts.
