Cancer forces devils off native Tasmania

AP
CANBERRA, Australia -- Tasmanian devils are being relocated to an island off Australia to avert their extinction by a contagious cancer.

Some scientists fear the move could endanger rare birds and other animals on the island, but other experts say it is a last resort and should pose no problem because the devils are scavengers, not predators.

"The path to extinction is looking pretty certain on Tasmania," said William Karesh of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, who organized a workshop in Australia to help develop a plan to save the devils.

The fox-like marsupials with powerful jaws and a bloodcurdling growl -- made famous by their Looney Tunes cartoon namesake -- are being wiped out on the island state of Tasmania by a contagious cancer that creates grotesque facial tumors.

The disease was first noticed in the mid-1990s in the state's northeast, where 90 percent of the devils have since perished. It is spreading south and west, and scientists estimate that within five years, there will be no disease-free population in Tasmania, the only place in the world where the devils exist outside zoos.

"I think there's a real risk of extinction within 20 years across the whole of Tasmania," said Hamish McCallum, a professor of wildlife research at the University of Tasmania.

McCallum is among the experts who plan to transfer 30 devils off Tasmania's east coast to Maria Island, home to several endangered species of birds.

The move, which state and federal governments are expected to approve within weeks, is controversial because scientists can only guess at the impact that the introduced carnivores will have on the uninhabited island's ecology.