The Bilby: Australia’s Native Easter ‘Bunny’

Every Easter, we’re encouraged to reconsider buying Easter Bunnies. Rabbits are an incredibly damaging invasive pest, after all, so why do we celebrate them when an equally cuddly, equally long-eared native needs our help?

Words: Charlotte Liehr

Until 250 years ago, the greater bilby (Macrotislagotis) flourished, living across 70% of Australia. Then, they were suddenly bombarded with threats: massive habitat loss from agriculture, altered fire regimes, competition with introduced grazers, predation by introduced carnivores, and hunting for their fur in the 1700s. Despite coexisting with Indigenous Australians for thousands of years, the impact of European colonisation was overwhelming.

Before long, bilbies were relegated to areas with the harshest conditions and the least to offer agriculture. Today, the bilby is a vulnerable species with fewer than 15,000 individuals. Queensland has just one population of a few hundred bilbies in the Mitchell Grasslands.

Targeted conservation efforts, including breeding programs and predator-free fenced reserves, have largely been successful and allowed re-establishment of some healthy populations.

These projects partially rely on funding from Easter Bilby sales. In 2012, Fyna Foods started selling Easter Bilbies and sending proceeds to the Save The Bilby Fund, preventing a huge loss of funding when Darrell Lea’s new owners abandoned Bilby production. Haigh’s Easter Bilbies support the Foundation for Rabbit Free Australia, which is concerned with rabbits’ effects on all native species. Cadbury produces Easter Bilbies but doesn’t contribute to conservation, provoking public ire.

Despite the push for Easter Bilbies, you won’t find them at Woolworths or Coles. Save The Bilby’s website lists potential sellers- like Target, Myer, and David Jones. For residents of the Brisbane area, Haigh’s Bilbies are only available online. There is, perhaps unsurprisingly, currently no sign of Cadbury Easter Bilbies.

Sadly, in a reflection of reality, Easter Bunnies out compete Easter Bilbies; Bilby sales don’t stand a chance when Bunnies can be found at major supermarkets. Despite – or maybe because of – this, you should forage a little further to buy a Bilby this Easter. It’s worth the effort to help a fellow Australian.