Tasmanian Devil Placed on the Endangered Species List

I have been following the story of the Tasmanian Devil for awhile. In the last 10 years, the Tasmanian Devil has suffered a tremendous loss of life due to a contagious facial cancer. Losses are estimated to be somewhere around 100,000-130,000 in the last decade. Unfortunately, there is no cure for the cancer and scientist aren't sure what the cause is. They do know that the disease isn't running its course and then disappearing.

The cancer is spread when one Tasmanian Devil bites another. Tumors arise on the face and make it so that the Tasmanian Devil can't eat. It then starveds to death. There is an unaffected population in NW Tasmania and it is hoped that they will be able to protect this group unil the infected die out, then maybe a colongy can grown again.