A GOVERNMENT plan to remove a healthy Tasmanian devil from captivity and release it into the wild is on hold after a Launceston-based devil proponent vowed to fight the move.
Parks department representatives were to collect Shakespeare, the one-year-old devil from Tasmania Zoo yesterday.It is believed the plan was to release Shakespeare at Rocky Cape, where he was originally found at the side of a road in his dead mother's pouch. Rocky Cape is believed to be free of the devil facial tumour disease.
Resource Management and Conservation branch general manager Alistair Scott said yesterday that the devil would not be moved until a final decision was made.
``DPIPWE is seeking a meeting with Tasmania Zoo to discuss the best outcome for the animal, and the management of all devils by the wildlife facility,'' Mr Scott said.
He said the general aim of the department was to return all orphaned animals to the wild.
Animal carer John Haywood, of Weegena, took Shakespeare to Tasmania Zoo last month, saying he had been frustrated to learn the devil would be returned to the wild. ``Here is an animal that already has a narrow gene pool, and basically needs all the numbers they can get,'' Mr Haywood said.
http://www.examiner.com.au/news/local/news/general/devil-release-plan-put-on-hold/2463244.aspx
