By Renae Riviere | Tasmania State Manager - CVA
Dear Friends in Conservation,
Our Hobart office of Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) has been busy over the past few months assisting Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary to keep their Tasmanian Devil population free from the fatal Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). Our volunteers have been assisting in monitoring and repairing the perimeter fences, essential to ensuring that devils infected by the deadly disease, cannot enter the sanctuary and infect the healthy breeding population.
DFTD is now found in over 60% of Tasmanian Devils in their natural habitat in the wild, and has an astounding 100% mortality rate; so protecting “insurance” populations, such as the ones housed at Bonorong, from wild populations is crucial to their long term survival.
Volunteer teams had the long task of check every inch of both the internal enclosures and the external perimeter fences. Regular checks of these fences are essential as the Tasmanian Devil is also a very muscly and robust animal, capable of causing damage to fences that may be weakened. Our volunteers at the completion of these checks fell rightly satisfied, that the devils are safe and secure in their homes.
In addition to keeping the fences intact, teams of CVA volunteers have been assisting in ensuring visitors to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary have a positive and enjoyable experience, through upgrading walkways, building retaining walls, keeping enclosures clean and general weeding and tidiness of vegetated areas. “Every Wednesday our volunteers and Team Leader come back with big smiles on their faces after spending the day at Bonorong, because they know that what they are doing out there is contributing to the protection of an iconic (and cute) Tassie icon”, said Renae Riviere, Tasmanian State Manager of Conservation Volunteers.
Conservation Volunteers Australia has had a proud and positive impact at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, thanks to the generous support of our GlobalGiving donors. Your continued generous support will enable CVA volunteers to continue this vital work in ensuring the survival of the Tasmanian Devil and improve habitat for the current resident devil population.
The Tasmanian Devils at Bonorong and the Hobart CVA team send their thanks!
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