foreign
charleville's most famous residents in a box
what have we here we've got four female bilby's we've got Tonka Dell oh my goodness
Dr Scott and Melinda cat castles is a veterinarian with a very special job
we're one of the largest breeding programs we have in Australia here and we bred over 20
bilby's last year they're so cuddling looking they are they're all cuddled up here yes
charleville is Australia's Bilby capital on the front line in the battle for these endangered
native animals they're just gorgeous Tomcat she's a maternal figure or a security blanket
to these newly weaned females so she'll stay up here with them until they're old
enough to go down to the crashing pens and down there she'll help them build Burrows
do you have the best job in the world I believe so too yeah how do you end up with this well I
came out to charleville as a graduate vet and I fell in love uh married my husband
who's a local Mary and then fell in love with the bilby's ah two two birds one stone I agree
the people of child will have also taken this little battler to their hearts
ever since the Save The Bilby fund was set up in 1999 by the late Founders
Peter McRae and Frank manthey no and fondly as The Bilby Brothers
their work contributed greatly to a National Recovery plan to pull bilby's back from the
brink of Extinction and created this breeding program a safe haven at a national park
and The Bilby experience where people can get to see them up close the community certainly
has really gotten behind us it's even down to the local travel agent they help us with getting
the bilby's on flight so we can transfer them all over Australia uh it's with the local people they
help us with the veggies uh is with the local courier company they make certain that they
deliver the live insects to us on time and all of The Bilby food sounds like you get all kinds
of help logging in we do and even some surprises we have the Work Camp here and the prisoners help
us out and they offer a few hours every single day and that is an absolute massive help to us
low risk prisoners can apply to join a work Outreach Camp before they leave jail
it's a two-way street remote and Rural places get help and so do the prisoners
it's such a surprise to learn that prisoners are working with these
Little Battlers we can't identify them but I can't wait to hear their stories [Music]
I feel like I'm contributing to something instead of just sitting around well I think coming into
incarceration you lose all your self-esteem so then yeah workout's been fantastic for
that for me rebuilding that self-esteem they've given me some skills that I haven't had before
it's definitely a privilege Jerry to be so yeah you do have to work towards it [Music]
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