Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
Aussie Ark, the not-for-profit that’s creating a long-term future for threatened Australian species and subsequently restoring our faith in humanity, have just announced that we now have Tasmanian Devil joeys born on the mainland. This hasn’t happened in 3000 years! They’re excited. We’re excited. Everybody, get excited.
you might remember that four months ago Aussie Ark released eleven devils (with the help of Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky) into the 1000-acre wildlife sanctuary in Barrington Tops National Park, north of Sydney, which effectively doubled their numbers on the mainland. Those little devils were selected based on their likelihood to mate with one another, so you can just imagine how great a news it was to find seven joeys in pouches.
The news was announced on Instagram where Aussie Ark president Tim Faulkner said, ”We have been working tirelessly for the better part of 10 years to return Devils to the wild of mainland Australia with the hope that they would establish a sustainable population.”
However, it was then up to the Tasmanian Devils themselves to do their thing while Aussie Ark watched from afar. And do their thing they did. After all, they ain’t nothing but mammals.
The baby joeys, as Tim shows and explains, are the size of peanuts at the moment. They’re also blind and have no hind legs, but are pretty safe in their mum’s pouch where they’ve latched on and shouldn’t be letting go until they’re ready.
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At the time of the initial release, Tim said of the Tassie Devils that ”not only is this the reintroduction of one of Australia’s beloved animals, but of an animal that will engineer the entire environment around it, restoring and rebalancing our forest ecology after centuries of devastation from introduced foxes and cats and other invasive predators.”
The wildlife sanctuary will prevent the spread of disease (these bad boys are rid of the painful and fatal Devil Facial Tumor Disease), feral pests and noxious weeds ruining their new digs. The sanctuary will also be keeping out cars so that the devils don’t turn into bloody chip-stealing seagulls.
Another forty Tasmanian devils will be released over the next two years so hopefully, we’ll be seeing these little guys soon all around the eastern forests of Australia. If you also want to see the Tasmanian devil back on the mainland, then help Aussie Ark out by adopting a little devil yourself.
For more information, and to actually keep up to date with how the Tassie devils are doing, jump across to the Devil Comeback website where you will soon be able to follow the journey of Lisa and Jacksen back on the mainland.