|
| AUTHOR |
MESSAGE |
|
User no longer registered.
|
Tasmanian devil endangered......
Tasmanian devil to get endangered species listing
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's Tasmanian devil will be listed as an endangered species this week as a result of a deadly and disfiguring cancer outbreak, the state government said Monday.
The disease, a fast-growing head tumour which spreads over the marsupial's face and mouth and prevents it from eating, often killing it within months, has cut the island's devil population in the wild by as much as 60 percent.
A spokeswoman for Tasmania's Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn said the small, black-haired animal would be listed as an endangered species by state officials on Wednesday.
The minister told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the animal would be upgraded from a vulnerable to an endangered species so that the "appropriate resources and effort" can be poured into protecting it.
The government has also backed a plan to build an "insurance population" of healthy Tasmanian devils at wildlife reserves, zoos and other protected areas.
"If required, these animals could be utilised to help re-establish Tasmanian devil numbers in the wild," Llewellyn said.
The facial tumour is extremely unusual in that it is a contagious cancer, spread from devil to devil by biting.
The devil is the world's largest marsupial carnivore and now only lives in Australia's southern island state.
Early European settlers named the feisty marsupial the devil for its spine-chilling screeches, dark appearance and reputed bad temper which, along with its steeltrap jaw, made it appear incredibly fierce.
|
| May 20, 2008, 10:13 |
|
User no longer registered.
|
Re: Tasmanian devil endangered......
That's funny... i saw hundreds of them... in the local Warner Bros store. 
Joking aside, that's just the tip of a very big iceberg. If global deforestation continues... we will be looking at the extinction of 40,000 species a year.
I could go on and on with the listed threats to species but I think the WN server might become extinct too.
|
| May 20, 2008, 13:23 |
|
User no longer registered.
|
Re: Tasmanian devil endangered......
This is ----- sad.
|
| May 20, 2008, 14:27 |
|
User no longer registered.
|
Re: Tasmanian devil endangered......
Did I hear Polar Bears have been or will be added soon too?
|
| May 20, 2008, 20:58 |
|
User no longer registered.
|
Re: Tasmanian devil endangered......
Defenders of Wildlife web site, chazzy... you'll find pretty much everything you want to know there.
|
| May 23, 2008, 09:43 |
|
User no longer registered.
|
Re: Tasmanian devil endangered......
I'll check it out Moon, thanks...I also heard that Polar Bears are mating with other Bears and creating a new species...the planet is definitly going through some changes.
|
| May 24, 2008, 09:06 |
|
svedishchef
45 / male
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
|
Re: Re: Tasmanian devil endangered......
QUOTE (Innocentivory @ May 20, 2008, 13:23)That's funny... i saw hundreds of them... in the local Warner Bros store.
Joking aside, that's just the tip of a very big iceberg. If global deforestation continues... we will be looking at the extinction of 40,000 species a year.
I could go on and on with the listed threats to species but I think the WN server might become extinct too.
yeah has nothing to do with Tassie Devils whatsoever, and I actually thought they were already endangered anyway
|
| May 24, 2008, 09:26 |
|
|
