The Tasmanian devil is an “Endangered” species due to food availability, competition with other devils and quolls, loss of habitat, persecution, vehicle strike, and Devil Facial Tumor Disease.
In May 2009, the Federal Government up-listed the Tasmanian devil to the ‘Endangered’ category under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Tasmanian devil’s status was formally upgraded to ‘Endangered’ under Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 in May 2008.
In late 2008, the Tasmanian devil was also up-listed to ‘Endangered’ on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) – widely considered the most authoritative system for classifying species in terms of their risk of extinction.
Traditionally their numbers were controlled by food availability, competition with other devils and quolls, loss of habitat, persecution and vehicular strike, but the greatest recent threat to devils across Tasmania is the Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD).
• Image | © Linda Martin, All Rights Reserved
• Sources | (Hawkins, McCallum, Mooney, Jones, & Holdsworth, 2008; Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, April 2018,November 2018)
