By Steve Bailey | State Manager - Tasmania
The completed ‘Retirement Village’ now stretches approximately 600m across the hill of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. The only remaining task before devils can inhabit their new home is to install water facilities and a range of native vegetation trees and shrubs. Irrigation of fresh drinking water is naturally of prime importance as is the creation of native habitat. Once these vital tasks have been completed we will see devils on the ‘waiting list’ released into this enclosure to begin their lives of leisure. Before this can eventuate however, financial contributions are continuing to be sought - big or small they will all help to bring this project to a close while a new life for the devils will just be beginning.
As we wait for the final stages of the Retirement Village to be completed, we are looking to the next stage of our devil conservation efforts. We will be working with a number of groups to source new programs to support our ongoing devil initiatives, and we look forward to keeping you up-to-date with these in the coming months.
Why do we choose to support the Tasmanian Devil? This iconic species is under threat and in just 18 years its rating has changed from ‘common and stable’ to ‘endangered’. Their dramatic population decline over the last decade is due to a fatal, contagious cancer — devil facial tumour disease. There is currently no known vaccination, treatment or way to detect the disease, before the tumours occur. According to some predictions, the devil facial tumour disease could wipe out wild Tasmanian devils in less than 40 years.
As the facial tumour disease is spread through contact, separating these populations is of utmost importance. Creating the Retirement Village at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary was a significant first step towards preventing the interaction from diseased populations to clean populations. Colin Jackson, CEO of Conservation Volunteers Australia says, “CVA is committed to making a meaningful contribution to a sustainable future for the Tasmanian Devil and we encourage everyone to do the same.”
Thank you for your continued support of the Tasmanian Devil - your help is needed now more than ever as we move to the next phase of our goal to give the Tasmanian Devil a Wild Future.
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