Plans for a large-scale
Tasmanian devil breeding facility in the Barrington Tops area of NSW were
announced in July 2010 by the owner of the Australian Reptile Park, John
Weigel.
Devil Ark, which
the Australian Reptile Park hopes to develop in partnership with the Foundation
for Australia's Most Endangered Species (FAME), would provide a major component
of the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program's mainland Insurance Population.
"The 350ha Barrington
Tops location is absolutely ideal for the project," Mr Weigel said.
"It has been a
difficult and expensive road to get where we are now, but ... my team and I have
stuck with the vision because we genuinely believe that if we don't all rally
together, 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."
Devil Ark is intended to
significantly increase the capacity of the mainland Insurance Population in
conditions conducive to the wild behaviour of Tasmanian devils.
Devil Ark would provide a new approach to the mainland captive
breeding program, positioned somewhere between the current ‘intensive' approach
of the Association membership, and larger ‘free-range' reserves, which the Save
the Tasmanian Devil Program is trialling in Tasmania.
FAME President, Michael Willson, said this project is an exact fit with
FAME's objectives.
"FAME exists to save native species from extinction, and Devil Ark
strikes me as the most important conservation initiative in the country right
now," he said.
"It's why we are doing all that we can to help out. If it's in our
power, we won't let the Tasmanian devil go the way of the Thylacine."
A development
application for the Devil Ark project has been scheduled for consideration at a
meeting of the Upper Hunter Shire Council.
Plans for a large-scale
Tasmanian devil breeding facility in the Barrington Tops area of NSW were
announced in July 2010 by the owner of the Australian Reptile Park, John
Weigel.
