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It has taken 3,000 years. But now the Tasmanian devil is once again in the wild on the Australian mainland.
A Tasmanian devil in a Sydney zoo. Stock Photography.
The Tasmanian devil, or bag devil as it is also called, lives in the wild in Tasmania. But the species is in danger of extinction, with only 25,000 believed to remain, as a mysterious facial tumor disease caused the population to collapse of up to 150,000 individuals in the 1990s.
For 16 years, various animal welfare and nature organizations have been working to reintroduce a group of demons to the Australian mainland, where they are believed to have been exterminated by dingoes 3,000 years ago.
The first 26 animals have now been placed in the fenced 400-hectare Barrington Tops Reserve, about 3.5 hours north of Sydney. Over the next two years, another 40 will be released.
– This is what you dream of, says Tim Faulkner, president of Aussie Ark, one of the organizations involved.
The idea of reintroducing the animals to the mainland is to have a reserve population if something affects the animals in Tasmania.
– But the presence of demons is also the only natural solution to control (wild) foxes and cats, which are responsible for almost 40 extinctions of mammals, says Faulkner.
– So more than the devil is at stake here, adds Faulkner.
Tasmanian devil
The Tasmanian devil, or Tasmanian marsupial as it is also called, is a carnivorous marsupial that grows up to 80 centimeters long and can weigh about twelve kilograms.
They used to live across much of the Australian continent, but were exterminated by dingoes and are now only found in Tasmania in the wild.
It is known for its powerful bite and that it can aggressively fight rivals or food partners, but it is harmless to humans.
Since the 1990s, a large part of the population has been struck by a deadly disease that causes facial cancer and for which there is no cure. Another danger to the devil is traffic.
Source: Australia Zoo.
