‘We saved a species’:  89-year-old creates wallaby haven in backyard - video Dailymotion

Conservationist and philanthropist Peter Pigott describes the major operation to relocate a population of endangered parma wallabies. Video via AAP

Transcript

00:00My name is Peter Piggott.

00:02It's so wonderful to be able to contribute to the saving of a species in Australia.

00:10I've done something that no one else has done before,

00:13and that is actually contributed to the saving of a species

00:18that everyone, all the scientists thought was going to be extinct.

00:24The palmer was not extinct, it was available in New Zealand.

00:29The land that had been taken there, it bred up naturally in the forests of New Zealand,

00:34and I brought it back and bred and given away 400 animals.

00:41I've always had the feeling, all of us who have the privilege of being born in Australia

00:47or arrived here and became an Australian citizen,

00:51to leave the country a little better than when we found it, when we came here.

00:58And so it gave me that opportunity of being able to take pride in the fact that we had saved a species.

01:07It's been an exciting story, and the first time anyone has attempted to save a species in Australia.

01:17It's been a great journey for all of us involved to see this little animal become viable again.

01:27It's been a really exciting story.

01:28It's been a great journey for all of us, though.

01:29It's been a brilliant day, and I haven't realised for the next generation.

01:30It's been a great journey for many people, as we go into this long before we get into it.

01:35At that time, we'll make it a new space in Australia

01:37to buy a small space in Australia.

01:39It's been a great journey for the next generation.