Australia’s Tasmanian Devil Could Be Extinct Within a Decade
The small marsupials chronically suffer from the fatal Facial Tumor Disease, and without a vaccine for the cancer, scientists fear the species could be wiped out in less than 10 years.
The last hope for the species lies in the 500 breeding adult devils currently living in 18 different wildlife parks and zoos. The Taronga Zoo and Conservation Society released a plea to the public today for funding to research the disease. They hope to raise at least $250,000 to expedite the development of the vaccine.
- » See also: Human Health Endangered by Australian Drought
- » Get EcoWorldly by RSS or sign up by email.
The healthy devils in captivity are being held in quarantine in order to prevent the spread of the cancer. Taronga Zoo alone already holds 115 devils, but spokesman Mark Williams said they need to breed more.
“What they know at the moment is because the devils are quite a close genetic line they think the devils system doesn’t recognize the cancer as a disease and that’s why it’s getting a go with them,” Williams said. “They’re trying to crack the code on this cancer so that they can do something scientifically to stop it.”
Marsupials are often plagued with high mortality and disease, causing many species to go extinct. A similar carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian Tiger, went extinct in the 1930’s from over-hunting and disease, and now even Kangaroos are facing an extinction threat from global warming.
The zoo has set-up a website where visitors can breed their own virtual Tasmanian Devil, read more about the creature, and donate to the program easily.
Photo Credit: ccdoh1 on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
This is terribly sad-
I was down in Australia last year and was lucky to see a couple of these guys, and they’re not the monsters they’re made out to be; they seemed mild-mannered or asleep most of the time. (that said, yes, I know they can be vicious)
Warner Bros should donate 10x the amount of money in question; they’ve profited from this iconic animal for years yet have only just started giving money. Step up before it’s too late, WB.
Ironic that within that article there is a sentence saying “and now even Kangaroos are facing an extinction threat from global warming.”, yet below there is a link to another article “Aussies May Unusually Adopt Kangaroo Meat Diet to Fight Climate Change”.
[...] Tasmanian Devil Coul… +0 digs From : ecoworldly.com , All Term : 0digs,0buries BackLink : tasmanian+devil The small marsupials chronically suffer from [...]
help their going to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we got to do something to help these carnivores that attack humans and are relly annoying. They eat dead things, we WANT THAT