April 10, 2007 — Scientists are planning to move Tasmanian devils — the Australian marsupial made famous as a snarling, whirlwind character in Warner Bros. cartoons — to an island sanctuary to avert the animals' threatened extinction from a mysterious cancer.
But some scientists fear that in their haste to save the species, authorities could wreak further environmental damage and risk the survival of other endangered animals by introducing the devils into a habitat unaccustomed to them.
The devils — fox-sized animals with powerful jaws and a bloodcurdling growl made famous by their Looney Toons namesake, Taz — are being wiped out on the island state of Tasmania by a contagious cancer that creates grotesque facial tumors.
The disease was first noticed in the mid-1990s in the state's northeast, where 90 percent of the devils have since perished. It is relentlessly spreading south and west.
Scientists estimate that within five years, there will be no disease-free population in Tasmania — the only place in the world where the devils exist outside zoos.
"I think there's a real risk of extinction within 20 years across the whole of Tasmania," said Hamish McCallum, a professor of wildlife research at the University of Tasmania.
McCallum is among a group of experts who plan to transfer 30 devils off Tasmania's east coast to Maria Island — a former 19th century prison that is now home to several endangered species of birds.
The move, which state and federal governments are expected to approve within weeks, is controversial because scientists can only guess at the impact the introduced carnivores will have on the uninhabited island's ecology.
"This is a very unusual situation and very unusual situations require unusual action," McCallum said.
"I don't want to get into an argument about whether a devil is worth more than a forty-spotted pardalote," he said, referring to an endangered bird species that has made the island its home. "But in my opinion, the risk posed to endangered species by devils would be minimal."
