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Facing unprecedented survival challenges, the Tasmanian devil may have a role in the sustainability of mainland Australian ecosystems.

Since the 1996 identification of Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) - a fatal condition in Tasmanian devils, characterised by cancers around the mouth and head - Tasmanian devils have faced an unprecedented threat to their survival.

While anecdotal evidence suggests that devil numbers in Tasmania have varied over the past century, it is believd that their numbers were at historic highs about 20 years ago – when they were particularly common in forest, woodland and agricultural areas of northern, eastern and central Tasmania.

Since the identification of DFTD, in the north-east of Tasmania, where signs of the disease were first reported, there was an approximate 95% decline of sightings from 1993-95 to 2002-05.

An initiative of the Tasmanian and Australian Governments, the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program (STDP) was established in 2003 and is the official response of the threat to the survival of the Tasmanian devil caused by DFTD. This program has begun relocating healthy populations of Tasmanian devil’s to isolated parts of Tasmania in order to secure disease free populations for the future.

In 2012, Maria Island was chosen for the first Tasmanian devil translocation project with 28 disease free Tasmanian devils released onto the Island.

Cut off from the diseased devil population on mainland Tasmania, Maria Island was seen as offering an environment for an ‘insurance population’. In November 2015, 39 healthy Tasmanian Devils were released on the Forestier Peninsula for similar reasons.

Both of these releases have been hailed as a huge successes leading to STDP officials now assessing their next step.

Simultaneously, a move has begun for a trial release of Tasmanian devils on the Australian mainland with scientists and conservationists saying it would not only further safeguard the species' survival but also that it would restore ecological balance.

In many parts of the Australian mainland, fauna is struggling on mainland, with 18 mammals having gone extinct in the last 100 years. In 2010, Australia had 1,750 species on the threatened list – as identified by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), with 59 mammals noted as being at risk of immediate extinction.

In June 2014, as part of its Action Plan for Australian Mammals CSIRO estimated that there are 15 million feral cats in Australia and listed them as the number one threat to Australian mammals.

John Woinarski, a Professor at the Research Institute of Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University and lead author of the CSIRO’s Action Plan, expects Australia’s current rate of extinction to number about one or two mammals per decade, stating “over the next couple of decades we will probably lose another four to five species”.

However, while native fauna is struggling on the mainland, it is, for the most part, thriving in Tasmania.

Research suggests that in areas of Tasmania where devil numbers diminished due to DFTD, feral cats either increased in numbers or become more active.

While there are no extinctions of wildlife in Tasmania that can be attributed to feral cats there are on mainland Australia. This suggests that by placing a large predator like the Tasmanian devil back onto mainland Australia a better functioning ecosystem could be recreated

Due to this, an intrepid strategy of re-introducing Tasmanian devils into the mainland could soon take place for the first time in Victoria’s Wilsons Promontory National Park.

In 2014, then Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change Ryan Smith advised that a risk assessment had been completed and a proposal was being prepared for government.

In the same year, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt announced a 10-year action plan to eradicate feral cat populations.

However, when asked about the proposed Tasmanian devil release into Wilson Promontory, Minister Hunt stated he was unaware of the plans but open to ideas, commenting “I would want to firstly see the support of the Victorian Government and the support of the relevant park authorities and associations.”

Australia’s native mammal species are in serious trouble and new solutions are needed to combat serious conservation challenges.

Failure to restore ecosystems and their predator networks creates a risk of losing even more of our native mammal species.

A healthy population of Tasmanian devils could potentially be the answer, although it would appear that more research is needed before a program is committed to.

Associate Professor Michael McCarthy of Melbourne University has assessed that "any program needs to be proceeded with caution and trials need to be carried out in contained areas using fenced reserves and the experiment needs to be replicated several times in different environments.”
Bill Benton

Click here to view the EPBC Act's threatened list.

Middle image shows the release of Tasmanian devils on the Forestier Peninsula.

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