Australia’s Tasmanian devils to get fresh start on new island

Tasmania is the only place where the devil is found in the wild and since the
facial tumour was first discovered in 1996 numbers have plunged by 91 per
cent to the low tens of thousands.

There are few disease-free pockets remaining on the island state.

The cancer, which typically causes death within three to six months, is spread
during fighting over food and territory, when a healthy devil will bite an
infected devil’s face and pick up cancer cells.

Maria Island, a rugged national park that can only be reached by boat or plane
and is vehicle and shop-free, has never before been a devil habitat so
Wightman said there was “no known risk of the facial tumour disease”.

National Environment Minister Tony Burke said the transfer was a method of “last
resort and it has to be done carefully with good scientific oversight”,
with all animals to be carefully screened before release.

Experts had deemed the devils unlikely to impact other native species on the
island and the ecosystem would be monitored carefully, he added.

If successful, authorities plan to increase the overall population on Maria
Island over the next two years to about 50 animals.

Source: AFP

Source Article from http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568301/s/25915b18/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cearth0Cwildlife0C96768260CAustralias0ETasmanian0Edevils0Eto0Eget0Efresh0Estart0Eon0Enew0Eisland0Bhtml/story01.htm

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