Numbat numbers at WA’s Dryandra Woodland grow as feral cat culling program kicks in

Numbat numbers at a conservation site in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt are the highest recorded in decades, as feral cat eradication continues.

Scientists completing an annual numbat count at Dryandra Woodland were thrilled to record 35 numbats — the most since a survey in the 1990s recorded 36.

The figure was up from 10 last year and just five in 2018.

The woodland, about 160km south-east of Perth, near Narrogin, is home to the largest remnant of original vegetation in the Wheatbelt.

The rise in the population of numbats found at Dryandra is significant, as it is believed there are fewer than 1000 numbats left in the wild — that’s less than the number of orangutans in Sumatra and giant pandas in Asia.

Population has…