Tasmanian Devils to Get Their Own Island

Friday November 16, 2012

Content provided by AFP

http://news.discovery.com/animals/tasmanian-devil-island-121116.html

         

        Up until now I never knew what Tasmanian devils were! Now I am finding out that the Tasmanian devils are being transferred to a small Australian island to start a new life without the scars of what had happened with their species all because of the tumor disease. The Tasmanian devils will be released on Thursday, November 21, 2012 on Maria Island, a nature sanctuary off the state's east coast. This is good because it is a major step to stop extinction of wild animals. "The Maria Island translocation is designed to establish a self-sustaining population of healthy wild devils in a safe haven where they are protected from interaction with the deadly facial tumor disease," Wightman said. Did you know that the tumor was discovered in 1996 and since Tasmania is the only country with these animals roaming freely the numbers of Tasmanian devils have decreased 91% to the low 10,000! Thank goodness that not the entire state has affected the Tasmanian devils there are still some parts that are disease free! “If successful authorities plan to increase the overall population on Maria Island over the next two years to about 50 animals.” Wightman says. In my opinion this is great! I really like how the people in Tasmania are taking action!

            This is related to science because when we study animals we are studying science! When I was reading this article I thought that this connected to what we were studying because we are talking about how science takes action and how we can help. This is talking about the people of Tasmania wanting to help a wild species so they decide to send them to the island! I really enjoyed reading this article because usually I read about depressing articles about animals! In conclusion before I read this article I didn’t know what Tasmanian devils were! Now I want to learn more about them!