Nine genetically diverse eastern quolls have made the journey from Tasmania in a critical boost to a NSW breeding program for the endangered species.
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Conservation group Aussie Ark's Dean Reid says the quolls from multiple facilities in Tasmania will play a crucial part in the organisation's intensive breeding facility.
"The arrival of these quolls into our program is exciting," he said on Thursday.
"Obviously, it expands our collection, but beyond that it expands our genetic pool which is critical for a project like this," he said.
"Genetic diversity within a breeding collection like ours is paramount, so that we are representative of wild populations."
The quolls are part of the organisation's eastern quoll breeding program, under the larger Tasmanian Quoll Conservation Program.
Aussie Ark is successfully rearing the vulnerable species in breeding enclosures in the Barrington Tops and now has more than 150 individuals, with numbers growing every breeding season.
The quolls born at Barrington Tops are used to supplement Aussie Ark's rewilding work within feral predator-proof sanctuaries.
Fifty of the endangered species were recently released into the Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary, the single largest release of eastern quolls on the mainland.
Australian Associated Press