A transmissible cancerous disease, DFTD, has more than halved Tasmania’s local devil population in the last ten years. The sudden population drop has caused such concerns for the future of Tasmanian devils that a Planet Ark initiative has been put into action, prompting zoos and sanctuaries worldwide to open their wallets and doors in the hope of creating a strong gene pool from which new offspring will be born.

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), was once a common sight in the wilderness of Tasmania but is now found to be widely scattered, in less than healthy groups. The population drop has shown many localized extinctions with up to 90% of adults killed in high density areas and around 50% in low density areas. The Devil Facial Tumor Disease is spread by the marsupials biting each other, either over food or during mating. Once contaminated, the cancer is usually fatal within eight months. First noticed in the mid 1990’s, the disease has spread wildly throughout the devil population, killing most devils off before they manage to have offspring of their own. The Save the Tasmanian Devil Steering Committee predicts the devil will be completely extinct in the wild within the next 25 years. A population of only 20,000 is currently left, a minuscule amount compared to the 150,000 that roamed all over Tasmania in 2000.

The initiative combines the capture and euthanasia of any diseased devils whilst placing up to 1500 healthy individuals in zoos and parks worldwide. Last year 48 of these captured devils were sent across to the mainland and placed in four different sanctuaries, as a safeguard against total extinction. More will follow and within the next three years 20 zoos around Europe and North America will also be housing and attempting to breed more devils. Leading Tasmanian Devil biologist Menna Jones says,” What is really of concern, is that we are now in a race against extinction.” Dr. Jones, who also supervises the euthanasia program on the Tasman peninsula, discovered that more than 130 diseased devils were found within an area of 180 square kilometers.

Currently listed as vulnerable, these extreme findings concerning the population decimation and drop will soon see the devils listed as critically endangered. All parks and sanctuaries that are now home to the captured devils have enforced new ‘bio-security’ regulations to safeguard against any contamination of healthy devils and to enable the breeding programs to become a form of insurance policy against total extinction. And from this breeding program a pure healthy gene pool will ensure that the species will be kept alive until the disease is no longer a threat.