Animal liberationists and the State Government have been blamed for causing the virtual extinction of the last viable wild population of the eastern barred bandicoot, one of Australia's most endangered animals. The bandicoots living in a predator-proof section of the Woodlands Historic Reserve north of Melbourne have declined from 600 to about 20 over the past two years, largely due to overgrazing by an out-of-control population of kangaroos. The species management officer at Melbourne Zoo, Mr Peter Myroniuk, said the bandicoots were now fundamentally extinct in the wild.