[Taxacom] Tasmanian devils on a small island

[John Grehan]

This might be a good example of never learning the lesson. In
conservation, 'management' there seems to be a history of muddling through
introductions of species to particular habitats (usually islands) without
due consideration of the impact on other organisms. New Zealand
conservation has a 'good' historical record of this. I guess it's no
surprise to see that Australia follows suit.

John Grehan

On Mon, Jun 21, 2021 at 11:22 PM Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:

> Hi All,
>       Having been a professional mammalogist myself (coauthor of Mammal
> Species of the World, First Edition), I guess I should root for the
> endangered tasmanian devil.   However, introducing tasmanian devils onto
> Maria Island has become a nightmare for other species on the island and for
> those who thought introducing them there was a good idea back in 2012.
>         It doesn't seem much like wolves being reintroduced into
> Yellowstone National Park which has helped reestablish natural controls on
> exploding populations of certain prey species (creating a more balanced
> ecosystem).  Instead, a small introduced population of tasmanian devils has
> made a mess of things on Maria Island and doesn't really seem to be a good
> thing for those trying to save the tasmanian devil from extinction.  Now
> the added expense of trying to remove them from that island.  Probably a
> good lesson learned about introducing a predator onto a small island.
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/21/tasmanian-devils-wipe-out-thousands-of-penguins-maria-island-australia
>
>
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