‘Catastrophic impact’: Tasmanian devils ‘wipe out’ large penguin colony on Australian island as animal introduction goes wrong

‘Catastrophic impact’: Tasmanian devils ‘wipe out’ large penguin colony on Australian island as animal introduction goes wrong

"Australia’s endangered Tasmanian devils have eliminated a local colony of penguins and decimated other bird fauna after they were brought to Maria Island in a bid to save them from extinction due to animal cancer.

According to The Australian newspaper, the devils were introduced to the tiny island off Tasmania’s east coast in 2012 as an “insurance population” due to the fears that a raging facial tumor disease would make the raccoon-sized creatures disappear completely.

The arrival of the world’s largest surviving carnivorous marsupials took a horrible toll on the island’s bird colony, as the initial group of 28 devils on Maria grew to 100 in just a few years...Read all.