Banks, Sam C.Piggott, Maxine2023-05-102023-05-101572-9710http://hdl.handle.net/1885/289960Noninvasive genetic sampling (genetic tagging) of individuals is one of the most powerful and ethical tools for threatened species population monitoring. A recent review of the threats to Australia’s rock-wallabies (Petrogale spp.) and the methods for their monitoring stated that noninvasive genetic sampling (faecal DNA analysis) is not viable for estimating population size and trends for species in this genus. We feel that it is important to respond as such statements have the potential to stife the development and application of an important tool for threatened species monitoring and lead to lost opportunities for collection of high-quality data to inform conservation of these species. We take the opportunity to describe the breadth of successful application of noninvasive genetic sampling for monitoring rock wallabies and other mammal taxa, the research and development requirements for successful implementation of noninvasive DNA-based population monitoring and thoughts on why this powerful approach has not been implemented to its full potential in many jurisdictions. We need to be careful not to dismiss one of the most powerful and ethical threatened species monitoring tools due to lack of familiarity with the requirements for its implementation.Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.application/pdfen-AU© The Author(s) 2022https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Genetic taggingPetrogaleThreatened speciesMark-recaptureMinimallyinvasive sampling2022-02-1110.1007/s10531-022-02377-x2022-02-13Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License