Consider supporting the Taronga Zoo captive breeding program for the Tasmanian Devil. Captive breeding programs can work, indeed we now have Nailtail Wallabies in Scotia National Park.
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Picture via Mike.
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Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Why?
If the TD, as a life-form, cannot exist why make it into a living fossil?
Heaven knows we have more than enough already today, whose demise we still do not understand, and now we should ADD another one?
Why?
Because they are cute is reason enough.
Louis, So you are a fatalist.
Louis Hissink…why? With an avatar like Foghorn Leghorn, I thought that would be obvious. What would B. Bunny do without a nemesis like T. Devil? BTW…do they really talk like that, and whirl in circles?
And support Devils escaping into the Dubbo wilderness (which is what has happened)? There is a far better breeding program at the Reptile Park.
I recall writing here last year “Twenty years ago some of you could easily have said Tasmanian devils wont go extinct too”, to which Rojo replied “What makes you think they will go extinct? Yes face tumour disease has reduced the population by 30-50% which is a tradgedy, but there are diease free areas which are likely to be fenced off to minimise disease transmission and the tumour/cancer is being studied closely.”
Not a great deal of progress unfortunately.
“Because they are cute is reason enough.”
Not much hope for the Lord Howe Island cockroach then. Not much change here either!
Sorry off topic , but might be interesting as so many species have been brought to extinction by cats. In Svalbard cats are banned.
Quote from my blog :
” 3) If we manage natural resources depending on how cute or charismatic the animals are , we are doing the nature more harm than good.( This differs between different nations).”
This is re whales , but must be useful for other species as well. From Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature.
Tassie Devils are neither cute nor cuddly, and they don’t act like the cartoon character. A good site that has both a video and audio as well as links is http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=387 However it is pessimistic about the facial tumor disease. A disease first detected in a National Park in the North East of Tasmania and that is spreading south and west. Most of the sites of the disease are in the rain shadow areas of Tasmania’s temperate maritime climate and the disease appears not to be prominent in the NW forests, the Western mountains or the Southern forests. So there is hope of not all the population to be exposed. Much of the early research effort was hampered when the political greens sought to blame forestry for the diesease in their never ending attack on Tasmania’s sustainable forest sector. Now that links to forest practices incluing the use of 1080 and pesticides has been ruled out, the science might stand a chance of finding out how the cancer is aquired.
Bruce Englefied of the East Coast Natureworld was recently awarded Tasmaian of the year http://www.lovethisplace.com.au/toy2008.html for his work in helping the Tasmanian governemnt save the devil.
Sorry Jennifer and all readers , I just want to say if you want to discuss whaling with somebody that really belongs in the business and has impacts on international whaling , the High North Alliance, you can make a comment and ask for questions ( or protest against whaling or whatever you want). Laila from HNA participates at my blog , so forward your wishes if you want.
http://annimal.bloggsida.se/
At Wilde’s Meadow, when I was young, with my brother and sister one came charging out of the bush toward us and, with shame I have to admit we bludgeoned it to death and threw it back into the bush.
This was about 1948 in southern NSW.
The above was on my parent’s property, Binnowee around about 1948-50. My father carved this property out of the bush and made a farm from it.
It was much later bought by Don Burke – with whom I have some integrity problems – and he used it to breed miniature cattle.