One of Australia's famous animal icons is in big trouble. The Tasmanian Devil has just been placed on the Federal Government's endangered list because of a disease that is wiping out the population in the wild. It's a deadly facial tumour and scientists are desperately trying to stop it. Catherine decided to find out about the mysterious disease and what's being done to save the devils!
CATHERINE ELLIS, REPORTER: They star in one of the world's most popular cartoons. Taz is angry, feisty, snarly and scary, a reputation shared by all Tassie Devils. So why the fiery name and bad reputation?
Well it was given to them by the early European Settlers in the 1800s because of the bloodcurdling screams and growls they make. They make the noises when they're feeding together to establish dominance. And what do they eat?
CATHERINE: So what do we have here for breakfast?
ZOO KEEPER: It's a big piece of meat.
CATHERINE: Looks delicious.
They're described as vacuums of the forest because they eat all the dead animals - bones, fur and all! And they have super strong jaws and teeth to help them munch through it! Looks gross and they seem pretty feisty, but according to some, the devil's reputation isn't a fair one - they're apparently quite timid, sensitive creatures.
Female devils give birth to about 20 babies at once, but there's only room for four in the pouch so it's survival of the toughest! The babies are called joeys and when they're too big for the pouch they ride on their mum's back like koalas.
CATHERINE: Now you'll find Tassie Devils in zoos right across mainland Australia, but they died out in the wild about 4-thousand years ago. Now they only exist in the wild in Tasmania, but even there, their numbers are dwindling.
Let's go back in time again. Early european settlers used to hunt and kill the devils because they ate their chickens. This also happened to the Tasmanian Tiger, which eventually became extinct about 70 years ago.
In 1941 special laws were brought in to protect the Tassie Devil and things began to improve, but now they face a new challenge. They're dying from a contagious facial cancer. It was discovered about 13-years-ago and since then the devil population has dropped by a massive 70 percent. The disease is spread mainly when they bite each other. The tumours build up until eventually the animal can't eat and they starve to death.
It's been a race against the clock for scientists trying to find a solution; wildlife officers are monitoring them in the wild and lots of special breeding programs have been set up across the country. One group has come up with a way of detecting the disease in the devils before they can spread it to other devils.
GRAB: If we can get them out.. while they're still infected but not infectious then we can get them out of the population before they have the chance to spread the disease.
Research is expensive and lots of people, including the company that owns Taz the Tassie Devil have been contributing money to help with the fight. It's hoped a solution can be found in time to stop the devil heading the same way as the Tasmanian Tiger.
Extra Info reported on 02/06/2009 in episode 14