Australian mammals have one of the highest extinction rates in the world, primarily due to the impact of introduced predators. Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is a leading conservation NGO in Australia and has been conducting translocations of threatened mammals to feral predator-free and feral predator-supressed areas across Australia for over 20 years. To date AWC has translocated over 20 species to 10 sanctuaries and now encompasses meta-populations of several species highly susceptible to fox and cat predation, including Bilbies, Bettongs and Numbats.

The primary goal of AWCs’ translocation program is to establish genetically diverse, self-sustaining and viable populations of threatened mammals. In the past 5-10 years the rate and complexity of these translocations has increased, as continued species decline in the wild highlight the need to maximise the conservation benefits of each translocation. Here we will provide an overview of AWC’s national translocation program and discuss key concepts that have led to improve conservation outcomes, including restoring species assemblages and associated ecological processes, conserving genomic diversity and building metapopulations of some of Australia’s most unique and threatened mammals.