Tasmanian devils ... officially declared endangered and may be facing extinxtion
Credit: Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water
SYDNEY: The Tasmanian devil, the world's largest surviving marsupial carnivore, will be officially listed as endangered because of a contagious and deadly cancer.
"This disease has led to the decline of about 70% of the Tasmanian devil population since the disease was first reported in 1996," Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett said in a statement.
Devil facial tumour disease, which is spread through biting, kills the animals usually within three months by growing over their faces and mouths, preventing them from eating.
Spine-chilling screeches
Early European settlers named the feisty marsupial the devil for its spine-chilling screeches, dark appearance and reputed bad temper which, along with its steeltrap jaw, made it appear incredibly fierce.
The animals were previously listed as vulnerable, and Garrett said the change in status to endangered would give them greater protection under national environment law. "Fortunately, strong action is being taken to find out more about this disease and to stop its spread," he said.
The Tasmanian devil is found only on the island state south of the Australian mainland. According to McCallum, in some places the disease is estimated to have reduced numbers by as much as 70%.
Fearful that the entire Tasmanian devil population could be wiped out by the mysterious illness, environmental authorities recently took four colonies of healthy animals off the island and placed them in zoos in mainland Australia.
Culling Tasmanian devils afflicted with an infectious facial cancer – once hoped to be the solution to saving the iconic Australian carnivore – is not slowing the progress of the disease.
Desperate solution
Capturing and euthanising Tasmanian devils infected with the fatal and disfiguring 'devil facial tumour disease' seems a desperate solution to the epidemic, but new research suggests even this may not be enough.
The Tassie devil population has plunged by more than 50% since the epidemic was first detected, and spreads when animals bite each other around the face and neck while mating and during fights.
For two years, infected devils have been captured and removed from isolated test populations. An analysis of the results in December 2008 from field trials in the Forestier Peninsula and Fraycinet National Park, both in eastern Tasmania, indicate that an exhaustive program to remove almost every single infected animals would be required to have an impact on the progress of the disease.
"Our most accurate model predicts the need to remove 89% of all infected devils, every three months, just to avoid extinction, and 97 per cent removal to totally eliminate the disease," said Nick Beeton, a mathematician at the University of Tasmania in Hobart who modelled the populations.
