[quick_vegetarian] Tasmanian Devils moved to island to avoid extinction??

[Rick Stevens]

Moving Tasmanian devils to isle questioned         
 By Rod McGuirk 
 Associated Press 
  CANBERRA, Australia — Tasma­nian devils — the marsupial made famous as a 
snarling cartoon char­acter named Taz — 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 since 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 the government and biologists develop 
a plan to save the devils.
  The fox-like animals with power­ful jaws and a bloodcurdling growl — made 
famous by their Looney Toons 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 a group of experts who plan to transfer 30 dev­ils off 
Tasmania’s east coast to Maria Island — a former 19th­century prison. The 
move, which state and fed­eral governments are expected to approve within 
weeks, is controver­sial because scientists can only guess at the impact 
the introduced carnivores will have on the unin­habited island’s ecology.
  
      
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ASSOCIATED PRESS 
 A biologist monitors a Tasmanian devil. They may be moved to an island in 
hopes of saving them from extinction.
       
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