The Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 provides for species, subspecies or populations of native animals (fauna) to be listed as Specially Protected, Threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable) or Extinct in Western Australia.
The Ministerial Guidelines provide further details on the criteria and procedures that apply.
As of 1 January 2019, taking or disturbing of threatened fauna requires Authorisation from the Minister for Environment under section 40 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. This Authorisation may be in addition to a licence to take or disturb fauna but, if required, may be applied for and assessed concurrently with a licence application.
However, Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 licences issued prior to that date (under regulation 15 or 17 of the Wildlife Conservation Regulations 1970), that include the taking or disturbing of threatened fauna, will provide the corresponding Biodiversity Conservation Act Authorisation until their expiry.
Further details on authorisations to take or disturb threatened fauna can be requested from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Threatened Fauna - Specially Protected Fauna Notice229.65 KB
Threatened and Priority Fauna List73.66 KBSummary of Changes to Specially Protected Fauna Notice121.19 KBConservation codes for Western Australian fauna and flora133.13 KBThreatened fauna listings are reviewed annually. The Threatened Species Scientific Committee reviews recommended changes. The public can submit nominations to add to (or delete from) the Threatened Fauna List.
Changes to the Priority Fauna List do not require a nomination form. Suggested changes can be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Fauna may also be listed as nationally threatened fauna under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, the Australian Government's central piece of environment legislation.
Data for threatened and priority fauna can be requested from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. More information on data searches is available in the Database Search request information sheet.
Have you seen a threatened animal?
Report sightings of threatened and priority fauna, other specially protected animals, and migratory birds protected under international agreement by sending us an email or completing a report form.
The report form may also be used to record unusual observations of common animals, such as where an animal is found outside of its usual range.
If you are unsure if you have correctly identified an animal, take a photograph, not a specimen.
Licences are required for the taking of native wildlife in Western Australia.
Under the Biodiversity Conservation Act, specific authorisation, separate to a licence, is required to take or disturb threatened fauna. However, providing first aid or emergency care is permitted.
The report form can be downloaded and then completed electronically or printed.
To submit the report form, email it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fauna sighting records can be viewed through NatureMap.
Recovery plans outline the actions that we need to take to help threatened species or ecological communities survive and 'recover' to a healthy level.
The Biodiversity Conservation Act provides for recovery plans to be prepared for the conservation, protection and management for one or more threatened species, or one or more threatened ecological communities, or a combination of threatened species and threatened ecological communities. A recovery plan must provide for research and management actions to stop the decline, and support the recovery, of each threatened species or threatened ecological community to which the plan relates so that its chance of long-term survival in the wild are maximised.
Draft recovery plans and plans proposed for adoption under the Biodiversity Conservation Act will be available for public comment prior to approval of the recovery plan by the Minister for Environment. Approval of recovery plans will be published in the Government Gazette and on the department's website.
Interim recovery plans are preliminary versions of recovery plans that are prepared where full information is not available.
Recovery plans and interim recovery plans are prepared for threatened species and ecological communities on a priority basis, commencing with those ranked for conservation action by the Minister for Environment as ‘Critically Endangered’.
They are developed with a range of stakeholders, with a term of 10 years from the gazettal date. They are modified when changes in knowledge occur. They provide an assessment of the current status, and detailed information and guidance for the management and protection, of threatened fauna and their habitats.
Interim recovery plans are used to manage and protect threatened or harvested species, threatened ecological communities or other species in need of management where a plan is required urgently but where there are insufficient data available to prepare a full recovery plan.
Recovery plans prepared by the department may be adopted by the Australian Government, and are then referred to as national recovery plans.
The department also runs conservation programs to help threatened animals, including Western Shield, one of the biggest wildlife conservation programs ever undertaken in Australia.
| Species name | Plan title | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abrolhos painted button-quail (Turnix varius scintillans) | Abrolhos painted button-quail (Turnix varius scintillans) Interim Recovery Plan502.1 KB |
2018 | |
| Albatrosses Giant petrels |
National recovery plan for threatened albatrosses and giant petrels 2011-2016 | 2011 | |
| Antarctic tern [Indian Ocean] (Sterna vittata vittata) Australian lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris melanops) Blue petrel (Halobaena caerulea) Fairy prion [southern] (Pachyptila tutur subantarctica) Herald petrel (Pterodroma heraldica) Soft-plumaged petrel (Pterodroma mollis) |
National recovery plan for ten species of seabirds | 2005 | |
| Antina, Central rock rat (Zyzomys pedunculatus) | Antina interim recovery plan873.92 KB |
1996-98 | |
| Australian sea-lion (Neophoca cinerea) | Recovery plan for the Australian sea-lion | 2013 | |
| Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) | Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) Western Australian Recovery Plan2.09 MB |
2018 | |
| Baudin’s cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus baudinii) Forest red-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso) |
Forest black cockatoo (Baudin’s cockatoo) and Forest Red-tailed black cockatoo recovery plan | 2008 | |
| Black-footed rock wallaby (Petrogale lateralis) Short-eared rock wallaby (Petrogale brachyotis) Monjon (Petrogale burbidgei) Nabarlek (Petrogale concinna) Rothschild rock wallaby (Petrogale rothschildi) |
Recovery plan for five species of rock wallabies: black-footed rock wallaby, short-eared rock wallaby, monjon, nabarlek and rothschild rock wallaby | 2012 | |
| Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) |
Blue, fin and sei whale recovery plan 2005-2010 | 2005 | |
| Butler’s dunnart (Sminthopsis butleri) | National multi-species recovery plan for the Carpentarian antechinus, Butler’s dunnart and northern hopping-mouse 2004-2008 | 2004 | |
| Camaenid land snails of the East Kimberley (includes 24 species and 2 sub species) | Camaenid land snails of the East Kimberley interim recovery plan 648.33 KB |
2005-10 | |
| Cape Range Remipede (Kumonga exleyi (formerly Lasionectes exleyi)) | Cape Range remipede community (Bundera Sinkhole) and Cape Range remipede interim recovery plan | 2000-03 | |
| Carnaby's cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) | Carnaby's cockatoo recovery plan | 2012 | |
| Camerons Cave Millipede (Stygiochiropus peculiaris) Camerons Cave Pseudoscorpion (Indohya damocles (formerly Hyella sp.)) |
Camerons Cave troglobitic community, Camerons Cave millipede and Camerons Cave pseudoscorpion interim recovery plan | 2012-17 | |
| Chuditch (Dasyurus geoffroii) | Chuditch recovery plan | 2012 | |
| Crested shrike-tit [northern (sub)species] (Falcunculus (frontatus) whitei) Masked owl [north Australian mainland subspecies] (Tyto novaehollandiae kimberli) Partridge pigeon [eastern subspecies] (Geophaps smithii smithii) |
National multi-species recovery plan for the partridge pigeon, crested shrike-tit and masked owl | 2004 | |
| Dibbler (Parantechinus apicalis) | Dibbler recovery plan376.26 KB |
2008 | |
| Djoongari or Shark Bay mouse (Pseudomys fieldi) | Djoongari (Shark Bay Mouse) recovery plan 1992-2001 (3rd edition)321 KB |
2000 | |
| Dunsborough burrowing crayfish (Engaewa reducta) Margaret River burrowing crayfish (Engaewa pseudoreducta) Walpole burrowing crayfish (Engaewa walpolea) |
Dunsborough burrowing crayfish, Margaret River burrowing crayfish and Walpole burrowing crayfish recovery plan2.82 MB |
2008 | |
| Flatback turtle (Natator depressus) Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) |
Recovery plan for marine turtles in Australia | 2017 | |
| Gilbert’s potoroo (Potorous gilbertii) | Gilbert’s Potoroo (Potorous gilbertii) recovery plan1.37 MB |
2016 | |
| Golden bandicoot (Isoodon auratus) Golden-backed tree-rat (Mesembriomys macrurus) |
Recovery Plan for the golden bandicoot and golden-backed tree-rat 2004-2009 | 2003 | |
| Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae) | National recovery plan for the Gouldian finch | 2005 | |
| Great desert skink (Liopholis kintorei (formerly Egernia kintorei)) | Recovery plan for the great desert skink 2001-2011 | 2001 | |
| Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) | Recovery plan for the white shark | 2013 | |
| Greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) | National recovery plan for the greater bilby | 2006 | |
| Grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) | Draft recovery plan for the grey nurse shark 2013 | 2013 | |
| Lancelin Island skink (Ctenotus lancelini) | Lancelin Island skink recovery plan317.19 KB |
2000 | |
| Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) | National recovery plan for malleefowl | 2007 | |
| Minnivale trapdoor spider (Teyl species "C") | Minnivale trapdoor spider interim recovery plan179.13 KB |
1998-2000 | |
| Night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) | Night parrot interim recovery plan for Western Australia313.67 KB |
1996-98 | |
| Northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) | National recovery plan for the northern quoll | 2010 | |
| Northern marsupial mole (Notoryctes caurinus) Southern marsupial mole (Notoryctes typhlops) |
Recovery plan for marsupial moles 2005-2010 | 2004 | |
| Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) | Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) recovery plan |
2017 | |
| Plains rat, Palyoora (Pseudomys australis) | National recovery plan for the plains mouse | 2012 | |
| Red Goshawk (Erythrotriorchis radiatus) | National recovery plan for the red goshawk | 2012 | |
| Rufous Hare-wallaby, Mala (Bernier and Dorre Islands) (Lagorchestes hirsutus bernieri) Rufous Hare-wallaby, Mala (central mainland) (Lagorchestes hirsutus spp. NTM U2430) |
Rufous hare-wallaby national recovery plan | 2012 | |
| Red knot (Calidris canutus) Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus) Bar-tailed Godwit (western Alaskan) (Limosa lapponica baueri) Bar-tailed Godwit (northern Siberian) (Limosa lapponica menzbieri) Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) |
Interim Recovery Plan for the Threatened Migratory Shorebirds visiting Western Australia5.99 MB |
2018 | |
| Southern right whale(Eubalaena australis) | Conservation Management Plan for the Southern Right Whale | 2013 | |
| Sub-Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus tropicalis ) Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonine) |
Sub-Antarctic fur seal and southern elephant seal recovery plan | 2004 | |
| Sunset frog (Spicospina flammocaerulea) | Sunset frog recovery plan138.66 KB |
2002 | |
| Thick-billed grasswren (western subspecies) (Amytornis textilis textilis) | Thick-billed grasswren (western subspecies) interim recovery plan 410.9 KB |
2003-08 | |
| Quokka (Setonix brachyurus) | Quokka recovery plan | 2013 | |
| Western barred bandicoot (Perameles bougainville) Burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur) Banded hare-wallaby (Lagostrophus fasciatus) |
Western barred bandicoot, burrowing bettong and banded hare-wallaby recovery plan | 2012 | |
| Western ground parrot (Pezoporus wallicus flaviventris) Western bristlebird (Dasyornis longirostris) Noisy scrub-bird (Atrichornis clamosus) Western whipbird (western heath) (Psophodes nigrogularis nigrogularis) Western whipbird (western mallee) (Psophodes nigrogularis oberon) Rufous bristlebird (western) (Dasyornis broadbenti litoralis) |
South Coast Threatened Birds recovery plan | 2014 | |
| Western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis) | Western ringtail possum recovery plan |
2017 | |
| Western spiny-tailed skink (Egernia stokesii) | Western spiny-tailed skink recovery plan | 2012 | |
| Western swamp tortoise (Pseudemydura umbrina) | Western swamp tortoise recovery plan | 2010 | |
| Western trout minnow (Galaxias truttaceus hesperius) | Western trout minnow recovery plan557.07 KB |
2008 | |
| Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) | Whale shark recovery plan 2005-2010 | 2005 | |
| White-bellied frog (Geocrinia alba) Orange-bellied frog (Geocrinia vitellina) |
White-bellied and orange-bellied frogs recovery plan1.67 MB |
2014 | |
| Woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi) | National recovery plan for the woylie | 2012 | |
The following manual provides guidance on the establishment of monitoring programs for animals. Refer to the department's Standard Operating Procedures for further information on fauna survey and monitoring techniques.
