History was created in the Upper Hunter on Tuesday when the first 40 founder Tasmanian devils were released into their new home at Tomalla.
As the tiny black and white nocturnal animals escaped the hands of the mammals keeper, Devil Ark, in the east of the Upper Hunter Shire, was crowned the first ever conservation breeding location for Tasmanian devils in Australia outside a zoo.
The first intake of devils was trucked to the area this week for the special and memorable occasion.
The devils are now adapting to their new surroundings at Devil Ark, which was formerly grazing land known as Mychaels and provides ideal terrestrial and climatic conditions for Tasmanian devil breeding.
The dense and moist bushland and the conditions of snow and cold weather are very similar to the environmental conditions the devils were accustomed to in Tasmania.
Devil Ark has been in the pipeline since 2004 when Australian Reptile Park owner John Weigel voiced his dream of saving the Tasmanian devil from the growing Devil Facial Tumour Disease that is taking over the population in Tasmania.
From then Mr Weigel’s idea has grown from strength to strength and this week’s release and formal beginning of the conservation breeding operation was the icing on the cake.
In Mr Weigel’s words, “it was kind of like the queen hitting the champagne glass” when he released a devil into the bushland.
Devil Ark is a 500 hectare park which includes individual pens of up to 10 hectares as well as intensive breeding pens.
With the aim being to repopulate the Tasmanian landscape with devils, the devil breeding process is very important.
Mr Weigel said the breeding was quite intensive as he wished to keep 95 per cent of the genetics of the Tasmanian devil, but extinction was inevitable.
“Tasmanian devils only live to the age of about six years, and they only breed when they are two, three and four-years-old with a 50 per cent chance of successfully breeding and only reproducing two or three offspring.
“This makes it quite hard to maintain the breeding of them,” Mr Weigel said.
He said Tuesday’s release of the devils was a very important milestone because Devil Ark was officially no longer an idea, but has eventuated into a reality.
However, Mr Weigel said Devil Ark was not open to the public and not a tourist attraction, but a conservation breeding site.
Devil Ark is currently at five per cent of its predicted future capacity with ambitions to house 1000 devils in the Hunter in the next 20 years.
Mr Weigel said the park would not have been possible without the donation of land by the Packer family and the support of others including the Upper Hunter Shire Council.
Mr Weigel said he had being fortunate to have the Australian Reptile Park overcome hurdles and get Devil Ark on the ground but it was now up to others to assist in maintaining the $750,000 per year cost of building and maintaining the devil numbers.
“This is the only way we can save the devil and we need people’s help.”
Neighbouring property managers Diane and David Lonsdale have pledged their support for the project.
Mrs Lonsdale said Devil Ark was like anything new in the area and there would be people who were against it just because it was different.
“You’ve got to try new things and the more I learn about the devils I find there are a lot worse animals up here, such as dingoes.”
Ellerston Pty Ltd general manager Robert Teague said the Packer family were 100 per cent behind Devil Ark and he would be involved in the future on an advisory role in relation to road building, fencing and any building developments.
“This really is a once in a lifetime occurrence as it is the first breeding project outside a zoo in Australia to save a species and it’s going to grow into one of the biggest,” he said.
Mr Teague said the Ellerston Public School children were going to sponsor a devil and follow its development and breeding program.
The devils will now be bred, fed and maintained by three permanent staff at the ark and will each be looking for a sponsor.
A Dollars For Devils campaign has been launched which gives private and corporate individuals the opportunity to contribute to the conservation project.
Email a friend