Easter Bunny to Easter Bilby

Australians could be eating chocolate bilbies instead of bunnies during Easter with the help of Darrell Lea and conservationists.

The marsupial is struggling to survive in the wild thanks to wild rabbits destroying their natural habitat.

Conservationists at wildlife park, Wild Life Sydney want to bring greater awareness to the difficulties the animal faces by making chocolate bilbies the chocolate animal of easter.

'Look, the reason that we want to highlight the bilby as an iconic Easter animal is, number one, rabbits are a pest in Australia. Secondly, the bilby has these lovely endearing rabbit-like qualities. And thirdly, the bilby is a beautiful, iconic, native animal that is struggling. It is endangered, so it's important that we do all we can to support that.' Mike Drinkwater from Wild Life Sydney said.

Many stores are already displaying chocolate bilbies, Darrell Lea is sponsoring bilby breeding programmes and question why anyone would want to buy an Easter Bunny when they could have an Easter Bilby instead.

'Given that the bilbies have suffered so greatly due to the introduction of rabbits, it's directly linked to a very important education and conservation message,' said Drinkwater.

The Wild Life Sydney park is home to a colony of four female long-eared silky-furred bilbies, who are joined by some native Australian spinifex hopping mice.

Source: Sky News