The Bilby
The bilby is a very cute little marsupial animal, native to Australia.
This small burrowing bandicoot used to be found in its millions, living across 70% of our country. Sadly, over the past 200 years, settlement and clearing, plus the introduction of rabbits, foxes and feral cats, pushed this animal almost to extinction.
It was back in 1991 that the Foundation for Rabbit Free Australia (RFA) first created the Easter Bilby as a symbol of native fauna and flora conservation. This was to draw public attention to the damage caused to the Australian environment by rabbit populations and to the plight of the bilby.
The bilby and its struggle for survival is symbolic of many of our small native animals whose habitat has been adversely affected by wild rabbits.
The first Chocolate Easter Bilby
The idea for the Haigh’s Easter Bilby came from a park ranger of the Bundaleer Forest Reserve located close to Jamestown South Australia in 1992. He approached us to create a chocolate Bilby to replace the Easter Bunny in support of the goals of the RFA.
It was hoped that a chocolate Easter Bilby would draw attention to the RFA’s cause and to the native Australian Bilby, a cute little marsupial animal on the verge of extinction due to damage to their habitat in-part by wild rabbits.
The first chocolate Easter Bilbies we created in 1993 were an instant hit with our customers and by 1995 we phased out chocolate bunnies and became entirely ‘rabbit free’. Since then we have made and sold over 1,000,000 chocolate Easter Bilbies.
Donation and Sponsorship
Part proceeds from the sales of Haigh’s chocolate Easter Bilbies are donated each year to the RFA and their work to protect the environment for both indigenous biodiversity and food production.
Bouncing back
Thanks to increased awareness and lots of hard work by a number of organisations and government departments around the country, the bilby is starting to make a comeback but continues to be listed as an endangered species.
How you can help
Every Easter make sure you buy a Haigh’s chocolate Easter Bilby. Every time you do, you’ll be helping to save this precious little Australian marsupial. And if you’d like to find out more about all the good work being done to save the bilby’s habitat, please visit the Foundation for Rabbit Free Australia