Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus)

Once widespread throughout southeastern Australia, the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is now found only in Tasmania. Mainland populations suffered a rapid and severe decline in numbers around the early 1900s. While they persisted at relatively low densities for several decades, eastern quolls are now considered locally extinct with the last confirmed sighting occurring in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse in 1963. Definitive reasons for their demise are not currently understood, although disease, persecution, secondary poisoning and predation by foxes have all been implicated.