Although the IUCN still rates the status of Bennett's tree-kangaroo as "near threatened", its numbers seem to be increasing and its range expanding. Sightings have become far more common in recent years. In 2006 a dead specimen was found along Amos Bay Road, just south of Cooktown. The increases in numbers and range are likely because most of its range is now protected under World Heritage legislation, and it is no longer hunted by Indigenous Australians. Both Roger Martin and Lewis Roberts, two of the world's top experts on this species, agree that it should now be classified as "secure."
