A Sad Tale

I learned today about a very sad tale.  Some of you might remember that Matt really liked the Tasmanian Devil.

I have learned that they are can get to be able 30 inches long and have a body kind of like a bear. They are down-right mean if they get the feeling that their mate or babies or meal are being threatened.  The mother devil is only pregnant for 3 weeks and then the babies (20-30 of them) continue to grow in the pouch, like a kangaroo.  But the mum can only feed four of them at a time so many of them do not survive.  

So why share this?  These weird little animals are becoming extinct because of a contagious cancer!  It is a facial cancer that causes tumors to grow on its face. When they get so big the little devil cannot eat and they starve to death!  Nearly 85% of the numbers have died.

To prevent their total extinction the Australian government has a Tasmanian devil insurance program.  They have taken to breeding them in captivity and keeping them totally way from any of the animals that have the disease.  Their plan is what all the Tasmanian in the wild have died off they will be able to reintroduce the ones in captivity back into the wild and the animal will be restored.  

I never would have thought about doing that!