Frozen zoo vital for species' future Tiger Quolls at Conservation Ecology Centre Cape Otway. Australia is ill-equipped to preserve and protect its threatened native wildlife and a national gene bank should be established urgently, conservation scientists say. While native plants are preserved in seed banks as part of national and international schemes, there is no such program for the country's native animals. In a submission to a recent federal Senate inquiry into the effectiveness of species protection, John Clulow from Newcastle University's school of environmental and life sciences argued the case for a national gene bank for threatened animals. He pointed to the loss of four species of frog, including the northern and southern gastric-brooding frog, which became extinct in recent decades as evidence the matter was urgent. "Their extinction might have been prevented if we had genome resource banks for wildlife in place," he told Fairfax Media. For some species, a national biodiversity genome storage facility may be the difference between extinction and survival. The extinct Australian gastric-brooding frog. Photo: Bob Beale Australia has one of the worst extinction rates in the world, with more than 20 birds and 20 mammals lost since European settlement. Of the 1756 species listed as threatened, 176 are critically endangered, 671 endangered and 806 vulnerable. Another six are considered conservation dependent. A national gene bank would store sperm, eggs, embryos and other cells that could be used to create live animals. Dr Clulow said attempts to establish national genome banks had failed due to a lack of funding and infrastructure. However, groups operating independently support his calls for a national facility. Taronga Conservation Society Australia has stored animal samples since the 1990s, with the collection now representing about 40 species, half of them native. The society's Rebecca Spindler said Tasmanian devils, northern quolls and bilbies were represented in the collection, which also contains Great Barrier Reef coral samples, considered key to a threatened ecosystem. However to be representative, Dr Spindler said a national genome bank should contain multiple samples from about 2000 species. "We need a national approach with communication and collaboration on a grander scale," she said. Dr Spindler said a co-ordinated national approach would also prioritise species most in need. Based in Dubbo, the Taronga gene bank is associated with the Animal Gene Storage and Resource Centre of Australia at Monash University and houses genetic material from more than 100 threatened and endangered species. Project director Ian Gunn said the "frozen zoo" operated on one-off philanthropic donations and university funds. However, limited resources for processing genetic material meant four years had passed since the 18-year-old collection last had a deposit. Dr Gunn wants a co-ordinated national biobank, as many native species were only one bushfire or disease outbreak away from oblivion. The sentiments are echoed by Zoos Victoria director of wildlife conservation and science Rachel Lowry, who backed a national program and the more co-ordinated approach it would foster. "We're facing the next wave of extinctions," she said. It's urgent because extinction is very real and often by the time a species is listed as critically endangered you're at the 11th hour.