tassie devils arrive...

tassie devils arrive...
01-12-2006

i read today in The Age newspaper, that about 50 tassie devils are finally on there way to mainland zoos to be the founders of a permanant insurance population here. good news, since i remember us discussing this many times over the years. so far it only mentioned two zoos getting the first batch - The Australian Reptile Park and Heallesville Sanctuary - who score a whopping 18!!!

http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...777724390.html

and

http://www.theage.com.au/news/NATION...777707694.html

01-12-2006

When will monarto get theres i wonder, theres a huge facility there, its really funny all the tunnnels for moving them around

02-12-2006

Australia zoo has a breeding program for Tassie devils but i have not heard if thet are getting any new animals for there breeding group, hope so. Fingers crossed. I am hoping they will join in on the Goodfellows breeding program as we need another good zoo here to become involed with this with maybe twice as many animals in our zoos as we have now, Fingers crossed again. lol

02-12-2006

I'm not meaning to be too pedantic (but I guess I am realy ), but the region has a breeding program for Tasmanian Devils, not just any one zoo. All the devils in the mainland zoos, and one or two zoos in Tasmania, are managed jointly, by a studbook keeper based at Healeville Sanctuary, under the auspices of the ASMP (Australasian Species Management Program).

It's always important to remember, that a single zoo breeding program is pretty useless, unless you are talking about a species that is only held in one institution (e.g. Indian rhino at Dubbo). It's the entire gene pool in the region that contributes to a breeding program, and in most cases, single zoos just can't go it alone for very long before they run into inbreeding problems.

I'm not aiming this at you Mark, it's just that you raised an issue that has come up a number of times in the past, and should be clarified.

02-12-2006

I agree with you 100% on what you say here, maybe i just did not explain myself as well as i have should, zoos of course should work togeather on breeding programs with all the species being held, i been around the animal game long enough to know working with others has great benefits. Also this was my point in hoping that Australia zoo would join the breeding program for the Goodfellows tree Kangaroos, the more zoos holding them here the better. Hope that explains what i was trying to say in the first place. LOL

02-12-2006

well i think this is great news, and very, very important. actually i'll go so far as to saying this - whilst i'm pretty strongly against free-ranging african elephants in the outback or asian elephants in the daintree (), i honestly think that should this disease persisit and continue to cause a problem, that we should seriously consider not just holding very large populations of devils in our zoo, but releasing them into secured (and by that i mean fenced off, the way earth sanctuaries, or whatever their name is, does) habitat here in victoria.

devils where once a natural inhabitant of mainland australia and pose no threat to our ecosystems. more so they would be filling their missing niche.
some people beleive mainland devils went extinct as early as last centuary, and the consensus among scientists is that us humans, or at least our dogs, are to blame....

02-12-2006

patrick, i agree, but so far they havent (the scientists) have not yet established where the facial tumour diseas originated from??? for all anyone knows, it may be endemic to parts of the mainland and may have caused their extinction, or at least contributed to it, here...
but back to the breeding program, i know symbio wildlife park are going to be involved. but whilst i hope the breeding program here works, and clearly its a last ditch effort, zoos may have to really overhaul aspects of husbandary, because up until a few days ago, our mainland population was demographically extinct, due to, partly, lack of breeding in the region.
lets hope zoos get better at it quick smart...maybe maria island would be a good place to trial reintroduction. devils there may help to control the hordes of eastern grey roos

02-12-2006

I sincerly hope that this won't be another leadbetters possum, freckled duck situation

02-12-2006

definately.

to be honest, provided there is a commitment there and a proper quarrentine procedure, they should be stocking up every zoo in the country! and offshore islands both on the mainland and tasmania.

with such a short lifespan too its really imperative that zoos stay on top of it (the breeding program) and don't ever get too relaxed about it. obviously there is a great deal more to be learned from research, but for the time being i think its best to have a doomsday attitude and prepare for the worst. more than just providing zoos with devils, they might want to start looking at custom built, government-funded breeding centres here or in tassie that can hold a couple of hundred animals.

02-12-2006

Not too put too sour a note on it too soon, but an article from November 23rd called Effectiveness of devil breeding program questioned indicates that of the 18 females in the insurance population, only four bred last breeding season. This means that 14 of the females are coming up for their second breeding season, having not bred during their first season. This is not a good sign for their chances of breeding next season as it is fairly well recognised that if devils don't breed in their first year, they rarely breed in later years.

02-12-2006

I have no idea of the required breeding situation for devils but the article has a ring of the Green Parties typical anti zoo stance.

02-12-2006

hmmm, i'm not really sure what that article is saying....

which population is this so called "insurance population" and who are these "wildlife parks"? are they private zoos in tasmania?

i dunno if it reflects an ani-zoo stance jay, not if they are suggesting that wildlife park operators be given a greater role....

Noah's Ark takes sail
02-12-2006

the article i read says the devils have under gone such intensive checks as they are going to the maniland, it was like 47 are going to the mainland parks

i found this, 18 are going to heaslville, and 11 the oz rept. park.



Last-ditch effort to save Tasmanian devils for the wild
December 1, 2006

THE first of a "Noah's Ark" collection of Tasmanian devils leaves today for mainland zoos as the disease devastating the marsupial intensifies.

The 47 healthy young animals will found a captive breeding population as last-ditch insurance against extinction of the species in the wild, where they are succumbing to a form of cancer known as devil facial tumour disease.

More than half of all wild devils have died in recent years from the disease, according to scientists tackling the crisis.

The latest research shows the disease is forcing wild females to breed much younger, reducing these "teenage mothers" to a single litter in life before they die. Previously they would have raised three litters of offspring.

Devil facial tumour disease is a rare transmissible cancer that has no cure. It is believed to be spread through the devils' habit of biting each other, both in quarrels for food and during sex.

Highly contagious but so far confined to devils, it has even appeared in a commercial wildlife park that was thought to have been secure, at Mole Creek in the state's north.

"Most believe there is a possibility that devils could become extinct in Tasmania, which makes this insurance population vital," said Steven Smith, manager of the State Government's devil disease program.

The animals that make up this "insurance population" were caught up to 20 months ago on the island's west and north-west coasts, where the disease is yet to appear. Their transfer was delayed to ensure they were disease-free, and in that time some have had their first litters.

The young migrants to fly out in animal containers today are the first of the breeding stock that will go to four mainland states, including 18 destined for Victoria's Healesville Sanctuary and 11 for the Australian Reptile Park, Gosford, NSW. As these devils breed, more zoos and wildlife parks around the country are expected to join the program.

"Captive breeding programs can be extremely expensive," said Russel Traher, curator of animal management at Healesville. "It demonstrates how a lot of institutions can co-operate to help a species that's in need."

Researchers, including devil specialist Menna Jones, have had to watch catastrophic declines in their study populations.

Dr Jones said that since the first evidence of the disease appeared in a previously strong population on Tasmania's Freycinet Peninsula, nearly 70 per cent had died. Further north on the island's east coast at Mount William National Park, there were perhaps 10 per cent of devils left.

She said there was no sign of any slowdown in the disease, which was forcing some fundamental changes in devils' breeding habits.

Devils normally live for only five or six years, breeding in their middle years. Now, one-year-old females were having litters. "The concern is that most females that are breeding lack experience, and this may reduce the reproductive output too," Dr Jones said.

"Females also normally have a strong preference for older and larger males, and these animals, which have survived through natural selection, are not around any more." Animals that did breed were then among the most susceptible to the disease. "Well over half of females that do breed are not breeding more than once," Dr Jones said.

Controversial plans are being considered to introduce devils to some of Tasmania's offshore islands as more insurance, and work is also under way to see whether a vaccine is feasible.

Initial results show devils' circulatory systems can readily produce antibodies to introduced agents.

WHAT IS KILLING THE DEVILS?

■ Facial tumour disease is a fatal cancer rampant in devils.
■ It is transferred between animals through biting.

■ It appears as lesions, then lumps and large tumours, that prevent feeding.

■ It kills animals within six months of lesions appearing.

■ Facial tumour disease has spread in less than a decade through more than half of Tasmania, leaving only north-west and west coast populations free of disease.

off to a bad start....
12-01-2007

well it seems the tasmanian devil "insurance population" is off to a bad start with some of the animals at currumbin dying shortly after arrival...


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...1/s1824630.htm

http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=19932

wonder what this is about?

and it gets worse........
16-10-2007

Mystery lesion makes rescue bid devilishly tricky - National - theage.com.au


personally, i think 50 something devils in australian zoos just isn't enough. we need to look at bringing hundreds into the mainland both animals for captive breeding and animals for release. its rediculous that we are considering jumping the gun and giving animals to foriegn zoos in my opinion. an absolute waste when you consider how few there are in OUR OWN ZOOS.

ideally, rather than wait another 20 years for extinction or near it - lets not be stingy with harvesting animals ffrom the wild now. it seems likely most or all populations are doomed anyway. tasmanina should forget about mainataining their icon for themselves. they should be re-released into mainland preserves and into both tasmanain and southern mainland offshore islands that are suitable.