As part of the state government’s Saving our Species program, scientists will use environmental DNA technology to analyse the scat samples to determine if the long-footed potoroo still exists in the area.

But Labor’s environment spokeswoman Penny Sharpe said the program’s funding had been cut by 25 per cent. The target for the number of threatened species on track to be secured in the wild had also been lowered.

Sharpe said the number of threatened species had risen since the Coalition took power: “Two species have become extinct and there are 47 more species that have been listed as critically endangered.”

Griffin also said work will soon begin on a 24-kilometre fence to keep out predators from a section of the national park near Bombala.

Locally extinct and threatened species such as the long-footed potoroo, eastern bettong, smoky mouse and eastern quoll will be reintroduced into the 2084-hectare Nungatta site once the fence is complete and feral predators are eradicated.

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Feral cats kill more than 1.5 billion native animals every year, but Griffin said the state’s network of feral predator-free areas is “making us a world leader in rewilding”.

“Once all seven sites are complete, 65,000 hectares of national parks will be feral free and provide a significant conservation benefit for more than 50 species,” Griffin said.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last week said Australia’s extinction crisis will be halted by the Albanese government’s updated wildlife protection plan. But the Threatened Species Action Plan does not include new measures to reduce land clearing or native forest logging.

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Ten locally extinct animals have been reintroduced successfully in feral-free areas in the Pilliga State Conservation Area, Mallee Cliffs National Park and Sturt National Park.

Griffin said the rewilding program had a goal of returning the bush to how it was before feral animals were introduced 200 years ago.

Sharpe said rewilding was an important part of saving threatened species: “However, Labor is concerned that the government is prioritising rewilding over the protection of habitat across all land tenures as the biodiversity crises get worse.”

WWF-Australia’s rewilding program manager Rob Brewster said NSW was beginning to lead the way on rewilding, but “there is no state or territory in Australia with a good track record on preventing extinctions”.

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Brewster said Australia’s growing threatened species list was a direct result of inadequate funding for environmental protection and species recovery.

“We also need to overhaul Australia’s failing environment laws to better protect threatened species and their habitat, and ensure everyone is doing the right thing by nature,” he said.