The Australian Reptile Park, a leading attraction on the Central Coast, has teamed up with leading conservation organisation the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME) to develop Devil Ark - one of the most ambitious endangered species breeding programs ever undertaken in Australia.

Devil Ark will provide a major component of a coordinated Australia-wide Tasmanian devil breeding program. From an initial founding group of 48 Tasmanian devils scheduled to arrive at the facility in November, a captive bred population of 360 devils is anticipated by 2016. A second stage of the development will see the population increased to 900 Tasmanian devils by 2020, and, depending upon the directives of the Tasmania-based overarching program (STTDP- Save the Tasmain Devil Program) in response to the status of the species in the wild, additional expansions will be undertaken. A development application for the Devil Ark project is scheduled for consideration at the next Upper Hunter Shire Council meeting later this month.

The Tasmanian devil is suffering a dramatic population decline due to devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) – a rare contagious cancer that threatens the survival of one of the world’s most charismatic animal species. DFTD began affecting the devil population of northeast Tasmania from the mid-1990s. The rate of decline in devil numbers has accelerated as the disease front marches westward. In the last four years the total devil population has crashed from about 60% of the pre-disease estimates, to less than 20% of the pre-disease population at the end of 2009. Despite the continuing efforts of researchers, veterinarians, and government agencies to find a solution to the problem, there remains little cause for optimism for the future of the Tasmanian devil beyond the establishment of a large-scale breeding program away from the disease.

Since the development of the Devil Ark concept in 2006, the managers of the Australian Reptile Park, in partnership with the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME) have been busy working with a range of partners and stakeholders to bring about the physical creation of one of the most ambitious breeding programs for an endangered predator species ever undertaken. The tax-exempt charitable organisation has taken on the challenge of finding and maintaining funding for the early development stages and maintenance of Devil Ark.

Executive Director of the Zoo and Aquarium Association Martin Phillips welcomes the announcement:

 “The Australian Reptile Park have been a leading partner in the Association coordinated Tasmanian Devil insurance population, currently based on mainland Australia. Throughout the last four years, the Australian Reptile Park has been at the forefront of breeding strategies that have contributed success to the insurance program. During the same period the Australian Reptile Park has been working with the Association to develop the concept of Devil Ark.

Associate Professor Kathy Belov from the University of Sydney, leading molecular geneticist involved in averting the extinction of the Tasmanian devil said:

“There is now general agreement within the scientific community that DFTD will be found across the entire devil range within five years. Therefore, captive breeding is the safest way to prevent extinction. The Australian Reptile Park is clearly a world leader in captive devil breeding. The large-scale breeding program that the ARP now proposes is timely and urgent. A good genetic representation of the Tasmanian devil population needs to be removed from disease free populations (while we still have time) and this genetic diversity needs to be maintained in captivity for up to 30 years until it is possible to reintroduce animals into the wild.”

Devil Ark originator John Weigel said:

“The Barrington Tops location is absolutely ideal for the project. It has been a difficult and expensive road to get where we are now – but all of the frustration and sleepless nights will disappear from mind with the release of the first 48 devils into spacious naturalistic enclosures in just a few short months. My team and I have stuck with the vision because we genuinely believe that if we don’t all rally together to do the work, the Tasmanian devil may be lost forever. And as if that isn’t bad enough, the wider ecosystems of Tasmania – which until now provided an island refuge for many species that were once common on the mainland, will become even more widely impoverished as the foxes and cats move in to fill the ecological void and hasten the extinction process for a number of additional native mammal species.”

Mr Weigel praised the supporters of the project:

“The 350 ha Barrington Tops site, which has been generously donated by Ellerston Pty Ltd, a company owned by James Packer, is absolutely ideal. Funding for the initial construction phase has come entirely from The Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME). Without this timely support Devil Ark would have continued being ‘a good idea’.

For further information about the plight of the Tasmanian Devil visit www.reptilepark.com.au