Easter Bilby

Easter Bilby

In Australia, the fecundity of introduced rabbits made them a major environmental pest, and feral rabbits are still a problem. There have been moves in recent years to popularize the endangered native bilby [cite web |url=http://deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/tsd05greater-bilby.html |title=Greater Bilby |publisher=Australian Government |accessdate=2007-04-07] as an alternative to the Easter Bunny through the promotion of chocolate Easter Bilbies. [cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/18/1050172755503.html |title=Wild about bilbies and a rabbit-proof Easter |publisher=smh.com.au |accessdate=2007-04-07] However, they have failed, and the Easter Bunny remains more popular.

Origin

The origin of the Easter Bilby concept dates back to the late 1970s. The first documented case of someone using the the term Easter Bilby is in 1979 in author Rose-Marie Dusting book, “Billy the Aussie Easter Bilby”. Rose-Marie has been a advocate for Bilby conservation for almost 30 years and a percentage of the sales of her books has been donated to Bilby conservation funds. But it has been suggested by Ian Faithfull, a journalist, that "the concept of the Easter Bilby was invented between 1976 and 1983 by Malcolm Turner of the Hawthorn Junior Field Naturalists Club as a replacement for the Easter bunny at the Club’s traditional Easter bush camps. Officials of the Club acted as the Easter Bilby and delivered chocolate eggs to camp participants on Easter morning."

The Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia [cite web |url=http://www.rabbitfreeaustralia.org.au/|title=Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia] began using the Easter Bilby in 1991 to show the damage that the feral rabbit does to the australian environment.

Darrell Lea

Darrell Lea is a strong supporter of the "Save The Bilby fund" [cite web| url=http://www.easterbilby.com.au/default.asp |title=Save The Bilby fund|publisher=easterbilby.com.au] ever since it was formed in 1999. Darrell Lea has been manufacturing chocolate easter bilbies [cite web| url=http://www.easterbilby.com.au/save_bilby/chocolate.asp |title=Chocolate Bilbies|publisher=easterbilby.com.au] which they have been giving a portion of the sales to the foundation.

See also

*Easter
*Easter Bunny

References


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