A Cooperative Approach to Captive Management of the Tasmanian Devil

J. Hockley

Department of Primary Industries and Water

Tasmania , Australia .

jocelyn.hockley@dpiw.tas.gov.au

The Tasmanian Devil is found only on the island state of Tasmania off the south coast of Australia . This species is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial after the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger in the early part of the 20th century. The Tasmanian Devil is infamous for its cartoon characterisation as an unpredictable and crazy animal created by Warner Brothers in 1954; however, the real Tasmanian Devil bears little resemblance to this popularised depiction. In reality the Tasmanian Devil is generally a shy and reclusive creature that is more inclined to scavenge for food than predate it.

The Tasmanian Devil is now listed as a threatened species because of the recent occurrence of an infectious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) - one of only three know transmissible cancers in the world. DFTD was first recorded in 1996 by a wildlife photographer in the far North-East of the state but the disease was not isolated until 2002.

The disease is understood to be spread only via biting between an infected devil and a healthy devil during feeding fights or mating. Once lesions appear on the Devil they usually die within 3-8 months. As of May 2008, when the Tasmanian Devil was listed as Endangered by the Tasmanian Government, DFTD had covered 60% of the state and resulted in a decline of 64% of the total population. In the states’ North-East, where the disease was first discovered, there has been a decline of about 95%.

In 2004 the Tasmanian Government formed a program to focus on key areas of DFTD which included the following:

- Population Monitoring – to gather information about the disease distribution and its impacts in the wild.

Disease Diagnostics – lab work to investigate the disease, its transmission and possible causes.

Wild Management – to allow management of the disease in the wild.

Captive Management – to establish an insurance population of disease free wild founders in captive institutions on the mainland of Australia .

This paper provides an overview of the Captive Management component of the program and the involvement of the national zoo industry body, the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA) in the cooperative approach to establishment and management of an insurance population for the conservation management of the species.