Saving the devil you know

IN 1933, a rare Tasmanian tiger was snared by a trapper. In those days, exotic creatures were sold to fairground operators who put them on display for money. This particular animal, however, ended up in Hobart Zoo where it was christened Benjamin by a journalist, even though its sex was never reliably determined.

Benjamin survived at Hobart for three years until, locked out of its shelter during a spell of hard weather, it died of cold and neglect. Its body was not preserved; a few photographs and a 30 second black-and-white film sequence of the striped dog-like creature are all that remain.

Despite its appearance, the Tasmanian tiger was a shy animal. Somewhat resembling a wolf, it was accused of taking livestock and persecuted into extinction. Claims of tiger sightings are made from time to time but no reports have been substantiated since the 1930s. Benjamin was probably one of the last of his species. The demise of such a unique animal is a tragedy.

The Tasmanian “tiger” was not a tiger, nor was it remotely related to cats. The mammals of Australia, isolated for tens of millions of years, developed differently from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Northern mammals, like ourselves, keep their young in the womb for long periods, feeding them through placentas. Australian mammals leave their mothers’ wombs when very small and climb into a pouch where they are fed on milk from a teat. Marsupials such as the kangaroo and the koala have become iconic animals. The Tasmanian tiger deserved similar celebrity status; it was the largest carnivore in Australia.

After Benjamin’s death, the mantle of top marsupial predator passed to its distant cousin, the Tasmanian devil. Cuddly, pretty animals are loved by the public but the devil won’t win any beauty competitions. About 60cm long, excluding its tail, the chubby, short-legged devil looks like a cross between a hyena and a pig. It is mostly black but with rounded, pink ears and a large mouth. We Europeans tend to regard the mammals of our part of the world as the aesthetic norm. Beauty, however, is in the eye of the beholder and prejudice should not cloud our judgment when it comes to conservation.

When frightened, the devil emits an unpleasant smell. It is said to have the most powerful bite, in relation to its size, of any mammal. Accused of raiding chicken coups, it was persecuted but, luckily, it fared better than the unfortunate tiger. Attitudes towards wild creatures were changing in Australia; even in Benjamin’s day, a fledgling conservation movement was developing.

In 1941, the devil received the protection of the law and the animal’s fortunes improved until the mid 1990s. Then a new threat emerged: devils began to develop a mysterious mouth ailment. Tumours grow in the mouth and gums. These eventually push out the teeth and the unfortunate animal dies of starvation. The “devil fatal tumour disease” is spreading rapidly. There are thought to be about 20,000 devils alive today, but, with the epidemic spreading across the island, the devil, like the tiger before it, may be heading for extinction.

The method of transmission is mysterious; viruses have been ruled out as a cause of the disease. Of a very quarrelsome disposition, devils fight over food and males fight for access to females. This aggression may well be a factor in the cancer problem; malignant cells seem to be transferred from mouth to mouth during fights.

Dr Caroline Lees, of the Australian Regional Association of Zoological Parks, is researching the disease and leading a devil rescue programme. So far, 48 devils have been taken into zoos in Australia and captive breeding programmes are under way. Captive breeding may help to save the devil but Dr Lees fears that zoo-bred animals may, within a few generations, become so acclimatised to zoo conditions that they won’t be able to fend for themselves if released to the wild. She hopes, therefore, to establish isolated wild populations, away from the areas where the disease is present. Meanwhile research into the causes of the disease and ways of treating it is continuing. !

There is an ominous parallel between the fate of the Tasmanian tiger and what is happening to the devil. Both were present in mainland Australia at one time and humans are implicated in their demise there. For once, European settlers can’t be blamed. Both animals were rendered extinct long before the sub-continent was invaded by Europeans. The most likely cause was predation by dingos, the wild dogs introduced to Australia about 2,000 years ago.