The visit to the Devil Sanctuary was another surprise: this is where a captive breeding programme for Tasmanian Devils and Quolls is based. The Devils, so blighted by the facial tumour disease, which almost completely wiped them out before action was taken, have been hated, hunted and misunderstood until quite recently. They are, along with Quolls, the only surviving carnivorous Australian mammal, the Thylacine or Tasmanian tiger, having been hunted to extinction many years ago. In the sanctuary I came face to face with my first devil and was not disappointed. Despite the cold some of them were highly active and very happy to be photographed. It is breeding season and the males are more active whilst the females on oestrous are going to ground. We were introduced to the youngest, who were the teenagers of the breed, and were able to stroke their coarse black fur. As for the news of treatment for the facial cancer, well there is progress with vaccination but those already infected- it is a contagious cancer- are sometimes operated on but this is not seen as the solution to their plight. The sanctuary is a disease free sight and so they have to keep out the wild devils in the surrounding area because there is no guarantee they are disease free.
We learnt a lot including how watchful the keepers have to be to prevent the animals from harming one another: the males of both these close cousin creatures are especially inclined to menace one another in competition for the females. The are loners and lack all social graces surviving as a scavenger species and providing a useful function in consuming road kill. Apparently there are wild devils living under the resort lodge and if you get up early enough you may meet them squabbling on the front deck. If all this sounds unattractive, that is not surprising but I think anyone who encounters the Devils first hand and learns of their sad story, will soon develop a different understanding of these unique animals.
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