Feral cats and foxes now roam across almost all of Australia. These predators are a major reason why many species have been driven to extinction.

In response, conservation groups and authorities have turned to safe havens – islands or large fenced-off areas on land. Well known havens include Newhaven in the Northern Territory and Faure Island off the coast of Western Australia.

After feral cats and foxes are removed, authorities can reintroduce endangered native mammals such as bilbies who can live their lives in the wild, rather than in zoos or captive breeding programs. Many are now flourishing, such as the brush-tailed bettong and greater bilby. These havens have become a powerful tool to pull many mammal species back from the brink.

Unfortunately, our new research shows mainland safe havens don’t yet offer strong protection for many other groups of animals, such as frogs, reptiles, fish, birds and invertebrates. Many species from these groups are similarly threatened by introduced predators as well as other invasive threats, from black rats to deadly fungal infections.

This is because safe havens are often set up for mammals and don’t protect the range of habitats other animal groups need or exclude their specific threats. We will need to create new safe havens for non-mammal species. We have pinpointed several priority areas on the mainland........

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