By Amy Bailey | Regional Coordinator
Conservation Volunteers is proud to announce the ‘Taking Care of the Elders’ Program is nearing completion and we are aiming to have the enclosure complete in a months’ time. This year-long program to provide a ‘retirement village’ for ageing Tasmanian devils is now taking shape and will be ready for its residents soon. The enclosure will see up to 25 healthy senior devils housed at one time. The ‘retirement village’ includes natural and native habitat, isolation/segregation areas, common sniffing platforms, digging mounds and sleeping facilities – everything a devil could want!
The exterior fence that stretches approximately 600m across the hill of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary is now completely established. To complete the fence, 80 fencing post were installed, timber rail was used for stability and hundreds of sheets of second-hand roofing iron was sourced and secured with thousands of special screws to enable completion. The 24 devil dens are also complete and ready to accommodate the ageing carnivorous marsupials. To finalise the ‘retirement village’ community volunteers will secure the remaining wire mesh along the exterior wall of the enclosure to ensure there are no digging devil escapees. (Nobody can get out - nobody can get in!).
Conservation Volunteers would like to express thanks for all donations received for this program, without these generous contributions we would not have been able to purchase all materials for the project and ensure the devils are able to live out the remainder of their days in a disease free environment. “Volunteer contributions towards this worthy project have been outstanding and humbling. It is great to see so many people helping this unique Tasmanian animal”, said Amy Bailey, Regional Coordinator at Conservation Volunteers Tasmania.
If you’re able to donate again we would really appreciate it – every donation will help us to continue achieving these great conservation results and see the devils move into their new, disease free, home. We also need to continue maintaining the enclosure to keep predators away. Stay tuned for the next update, when we hope to report on the Devils being transferred into their Retirement Village!
Thank you again for supporting this project.
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