Penguins living on an island off Australia wiped out by Tasmanian devils

A good faith effort to save the Tasmanian devil didn’t end so well for thousands of penguins who lived off the coast of Australia on a tiny island.

“Every time humans have deliberately or accidentally introduced mammals to oceanic islands, there’s always been the same outcome... a catastrophic impact on one or more bird species,” said Eric Woelher, the conveyor of BirdLife Tasmania, to The Guardian. “Losing 3,000 pairs of penguins from an island that is a national park that should be a refuge for this species basically is a major blow.”

In this Dec. 21, 2012, file photo, Big John the Tasmanian devil growls from the confines of his tree house as he makes his first appearance at the Wild Life Sydney Zoo in Sydney. (Rob Griffith/)

Between 2012 and 2013, 28 Tasmanian devils were sent to an Australian National Park known as Maria Island. The marsupials were sent in collaboration with the Save The Tasmanian devil program that sought to save the animal from devil facial tumor disease, a contagious face cancer that was running rampant through the Tasmanian devil population.

Soon after their arrival on the island, the 28 original Tasmanian devils grew to 100, but it came at the cost of the island’s native penguin population.

Along with the penguins, wombats and possums have already seen drastic reductions in populations since the Tasmanian devil made its way there.

With more information known about the facial cancer that sent the Tasmanian devils to Maria Island, Woehler believes now might be the time to send them elsewhere.

“You have a range of insurance populations around Tasmania and on the mainland of Australia [now],” Woehler said. “I would argue that the removal of one insurance population will not have any adverse consequences for the devil.”

The Australian government does not agree with that sentiment and has no plans on moving the Tasmanian devil population any time soon but will continue to keep an eye on the situation as it evolves.

“All effective conservation programs are adaptive and the STDP will continue to evolve in line with new knowledge in science and emerging priorities,” said spokesperson for the Save the Tasmanian Devil program. “This also applies to Maria Island, where active monitoring and management occurs, and Maria Island remains an important part of the broader devil program to help restore and maintain an enduring and resilient wild devil population in Tasmania.”