Commander CMG Posted May 22, 2009 #1 Share Posted May 22, 2009 Australia has lifted protection levels for the Tasmanian devil, the world's largest surviving marsupial carnivore, from vulnerable to endangered. The devil population, which is found on the island state of Tasmania, has been decimated by a facial tumour disease. The number of Tasmanian devils in the wild is thought to have fallen by up to 70% since the mid-1990s. The new conservation status will give the animals greater protection under national environment laws. Strong action The devils have been ravaged by an outbreak of facial tumours the size of small golf balls. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MirrorImage Posted May 23, 2009 #2 Share Posted May 23, 2009 Heart breaking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwin_seeker Posted February 12, 2011 #3 Share Posted February 12, 2011 (edited) The Tasmanian devils are endangered for a number of reasons. One of them is because the farmers believed that it ate large numbers of livestock and poultry and thus they hunt it. This is also why the Tasmanian tiger died out. Other reasons include that they are often hit by cars as they feed on other road-killed animals. Presently, there is outbreak of facial tumour disease. It causes facial lesions which increase in size until the Tasmanian devils can no longer eat and becomes susceptible to infections. This also leads to the decline in population. As the Tasmanian devil population decreases, fox population are increasing. These introduced animals hunt and eat young Tasmanian devils. If the numbers of the Tasmanian devil drop too low, then there is little hope that the population will ever recover - those remaining will be destroyed by the foxes. Edited February 12, 2011 by edwin_seeker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d e v i c e Posted February 16, 2011 #4 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Thanks edwin_seeker. Yes, lets hope they don't go the way of he Tasmanian Tiger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhincewind Posted February 17, 2011 #5 Share Posted February 17, 2011 austrailia need to be captive breeding them so that when the disease is wiped out in the wild, healthy ones can be rereleased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bendy Demon Posted February 20, 2011 #6 Share Posted February 20, 2011 I have read somewhere that these devils are initially getting cancer because they seem to have penchant for chowing down on plastics and Styrofoam at the landfills. And naturally since they seem to delight in fighting, the bites transfer the cancerous cells. At least this is what I read was the initial cause. Sad though, they are kind of neat creatures, not overly cuddly but neat nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali smack Posted February 20, 2011 #7 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Terrible. Maybe they should put them in zoos,if that is posible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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