It’s been almost two centuries since the small Mitchell’s hopping mouse jumped across NSW, but scientists are hoping 150 of the creatures might be enough to restore its population.

Behind a high electrified fence in Mallee Cliffs National Park, in the state’s south-west, are 9500 hectares of land that are cat- and fox-free, where the mice will be given a chance to thrive.

It’s part of a statewide project to bolster and return the wild populations of more than a dozen species that had become extinct in NSW, as well as more than 20 other locally extinct species.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service deputy secretary Atticus Fleming said Australia had the worst extinction rates in the world, driven in part by feral animals such as cats and foxes.

“Feral cats, foxes and rabbits have created marsupial ghost towns across much of inland Australia,” he said. “This project is about turning back time – creating massive feral-free areas, returning wildlife and restoring our landscapes.”

The Mitchell’s hopping mouse reintroduction has been driven by NPWS, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Zoos South Australia. Fleming said an important part of the project was choosing the founding population that will be responsible for bolstering the population to 950 mice.

Before European settlement, there were 10 different types of hopping mice, including the Mitchell’s species. But feral animals and habitat loss has seen five of these species become extinct. Cats, feral and domesticated, and foxes are two of the biggest threats to wildlife, killing more than 7 million animals a day – totalling 2.6 billion animals each year.

Since colonisation, about 100 of Australia’s unique flora and fauna species have been wiped off the planet, including 34 mammals. Foxes and cats were responsible for 25 of the native mammal extinctions. The rate of loss, which is as comprehensive as anywhere else on Earth, has not slowed over the past 200 years.