The Tasmanian devil has been listed as an endangered species by the Tasmanian Government.
A deadly and disfiguring facial cancer, which often kills within months, has cut the island state’s wild devil population by as much as 60 per cent.
The reclassification from vulnerable to endangered status highlights the severe nature of the threat to the marsupial.
Primary Industries Minister David Llewellyn said the upgrading to endangered status reflected the plunge in the devil population resulting from the facial tumour disease. “The order has now been gazetted, and the new status becomes official today,” Mr Llewellyn said.
Wildlife and disease experts are working with state and commonwealth governments to combat the disease.
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This is sad – is this something that has happened quickly or has it been going on for a long time and gradually reducing the population?
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