Killing off Tasmanian devils that are infected with a contagious and deadly facial cancer is unlikely to control the disease.
The cancer, which is thought to be spread through biting, is threatening the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii; pictured) with extinction. Wildlife managers have tried culling infected animals in an isolated population, but to no avail. Nick Beeton at the University of Tasmania in Hobart and Hamish McCallum of Griffith University in Nathan, Australia, have modelled the disease's transmission and various culling strategies. They report that, in a typical population, as many as 96% would have to be removed on a continuous basis to save the population and wipe out the disease. Such a high removal rate isn't achievable because some animals — more than 20% at one trial site — avoid traps.
Other strategies include keeping a population of uninfected animals in zoos and reserves, and breeding naturally resistant animals.
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Culls won't save Tasmanian devils. Nature 478, 158 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/478158a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/478158a
