When farmer Pao Ling Tsai set a trap to catch the predator that had been killing his chooks, he expected to catch a feral cat or fox. Instead, he caught a species that was thought extinct in South Australia more than 130 years ago.

When farmer Pao Ling Tsai set a trap to catch the predator that had been killing his chooks, he expected he would catch a feral cat or fox. “I’ve given the video to National Parks and Wildlife to see what animal took the food, but I think it was another quoll or quolls.”

But he said the spotted-tailed quoll was “considered extinct” in the region.

Mr Anderson said his team was keen to determine where the animal came from and whether it is part of a larger population.

Critically endangered population drops The spotted-tailed quoll is the largest quoll species in Australia, approximately twice the size of the western quoll, which was reintroduced into the Flinders Ranges in South Australia as part of Operation Bounceback in 2019.