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Tim May

Tasmanian devil; Tring Zoological Museum; 30th December 2010

Tasmanian devil; Tring Zoological Museum; 30th December 2010
Tim May, 31 Dec 2010
    • Chlidonias
      devils have very short life spans (naturally), so it has been hard for foreign zoos to keep their populations going. Some are currently kept in Denmark because their prince married a Tasmanian girl and so Australia sent them some over (probably the first time Tasmanian devils have been a wedding gift :D). These are the only ones outside Australia at the moment.

      There are zoo holdings in Australia being bred as disease-free insurance populations.
    • Newzooboy
      The only TD I remember seeing was at Toronto Zoo in 2000 -......maybe the last one in North America? and last outside Australia besides the Copenhagen pair?

      I visited Perth Zoo many times in the mid to late 70s as a child but don't remember seeing any there - although it is possible they did have some, maybe in the nocturnal house?
    • IanRRobinson

      Throwing this out (and I'm sure I'm not the first to do so from Europe or North America) how would Australasian chatters feel about a large scale exchange of stock, ticking all the numerous bureaucratic checks, that took animals like Devils, Bilbies and Tuatara (say) out in exchange for some of the ungulates and birds (such as flamingoes) that are on the point of extinction in captivity in Australia and New Zealand?

      Has anyone ever heard of attempts to do this?
    • Chlidonias
      Zoochatters would love it. The zoos would no doubt love it. But unfortunately its not the zoos that decide things like that.
    • Cat-Man
      ^i very much like that idea - a huge exchange of Australasian fauna (such as Platypus, Tasmanian Devil and others) for a collection of exotics to our friends down under, rare antelope, beautiful birds, and many carnivores, such as bears (which apart from sun bears seem to be going extinct in Australia!) what species would you Australian members - and members from new zealand etc like to see in this metaphorical exchange?
    • Chlidonias
      perhaps it might be best to keep the thread on a Tasmanian devil photo to comments on Tasmanian devils? There's plenty of threads in the Australian forum discussing what species are lacking in Australian zoos.
    • devilfish
      I think it would make sense in the near future to send large numbers of Tasmanian devils to a select few zoos outside Australia - not just to free up space for devil breeding, but also to further isolate captive populations from the risk of contracting DFTD.

      Of course, those select zoos would need to send something back in return. Coatis, maybe? :D
    • Chlidonias
      in the case of devils it would indeed be a good idea to create insurance zoo populations outside Australia. But of course then there's the problem as to whether they would ever be allowed back into Australia again with the potential biosecurity issues.

      In Australia there are a number of zoos on the mainland setting up groups, and there is also talk of establishing disease-free wild populations on the mainland again (I'm not too sure on how advanced that idea is, or if it would ever take place though).
    • Cat-Man
      Of course childonia, apologies.

      However, you do make a good point about if they ever would be allowed back into Australia due to the issue you mentioned.

      How did so many non Australian zoo's obtain Tasmanian devils in the 1st place then?
    • Chlidonias
      the ones that have been sent to overseas zoos in the past were never intended to be anything other than overseas zoos' exhibits. The same as with kangaroos etc.

      I'm not saying that if devils were held in numbers overseas that they would never be imported back into Australia, but it would seem unlikely given the strictness of biosecurity laws over here. New Zealand is the same -- any kiwi in overseas zoos will never be re-imported into NZ because of the risk of disease getting into the wild populations. If devils became extinct in Australia/Tasmania but there were overseas populations then it might be a different matter of course.
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  • Category:
    Tring Natural History Museum
    Uploaded By:
    Tim May
    Date:
    31 Dec 2010
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    Comment Count:
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