By: Alec Concejero
Thor himself Chris Hemsworth becomes a real hero after recently joining conservation groups to bring the Tasmanian Devil back to Australia’s mainland for the first time in 3,000 years.
Australia has always been tagged as the land of all things creepy, crawly, and dangerous from huntsman spiders and olive pythons to saltwater crocodiles, but the Land Down Under also has cute and furry creatures indigenous to its region. For those who are only familiar with the Tasmanian devil from the Looney Tunes, you might be surprised to find out that these creatures are actually small black furry marsupials that were believed to have been wiped out by dingoes, Australia’s legendary wild dog that bears a striking resemblance to household dogs. Experts also believed that facial cancer was a contributor to the supposed eradication of the Tasmanian devils.
As the name suggests, Tasmanian devils have been long confined to the island state of Tasmania, but with the help of conservationists and volunteers, they were brought back into a sanctuary in New South Wales, located in the south of Australia.
Alongside Hemsworth and Pataky, the conservationists from Aussie Ark led a hunt to catch the devils in Tasmania to bring them to the sanctuary in New South Wales. Here they will be treated to ensure no wild diseases are living within them.
The conservationists have bred up to 400 “joeys,” as they colloquially call them down under, so much so that they can start releasing them back into the wild and rebuild their ecosystems in a different patch of wildlands.
The conservationist group called The Ark, headed by Tim Faulkner, rejoice at the fact that these creatures are again able to roam the mainland forests, and he states that as an apex predator, it’s a win for nature.
It is the “the first time in 3,000 years, or thereabouts, that the Tasmanian devil has roamed mainland forests and as an apex predator, it’s critically important,” said Tim Faulkner, president of conservation group Aussie Ark.
They have already released 11 Tasmanian devils into the wild. Australia has one of the worst mammal extinction rates in the world, but it’s slowly bringing back the balance of environmental forest ecology which was damaged by the introduction of invasive predators.
Faulkner said it was a “monumental” moment in rebuilding Australia’s ecosystem. Aussie Ark, which has worked on the program with Global Wildlife Conservation and WildArk, has been breeding young devils and plans to release 20 more next year, and another 20 the following year.
Photos from Unilad UK and BBC