Devil champion on next wildlife mission

Pride of Australia nominee Bruce Englefield turns his focus to preventing our Tassie icon from becoming roadkill

THE wildlife champion behind a devil sanctuary program many say saved the species from extinction is now working on a way of preventing healthy devils from becoming roadkill.

Bruce Englefield, who started the Devil Island Project in 2006, is now studying for a PhD with the University of Sydney to see if the animal’s behaviour can be modified so they are less likely to fall prey to traffic.

Many of the devils released from captivity into the wild have died on the road within days of their release — much to Mr Englefield’s distress.

“My eventual aim, as part of my PhD, is to produce an evidence-based protocol that will inform ways to reduce the mortality rate of animals reared in captivity and released to the wild,” Mr Englefield said.

He is conducting a survey to gather information from wildlife carers to improve animal welfare, reduce the cost burden on carers and rehabilitators and lessen negative feelings about native animal conservation from overseas visitors who see so many dead animals on the road.

Mr Englefield has been nominated for a Pride of Australia award because of his work that allowed the species to procreate free from the dan- gers of the facial tumour disease, which was decimating populations.

The Devil Island Project has been wound up after 10 years but its success shall be remembered as a vital part of the work to save the devil from extinction.

Mr Englefield said the way Tasmanians viewed the Tas- manian devil was starkly different in 2017 than it was in 2000 when he came to the state.

“They were seen as nasty little creatures which were to be shot and reviled,” he said.

“I even heard one story that a number of devils were shot, boiled up and the grease created used to lubricate machinery.

“I came to Tasmania, fell in love with the place and the people. I was captivated by the devil and it was the species which encouraged me to buy a wildlife park.

“In the early days, I would sell 10 Tasmanian tiger toys to one devil one. Now it is the other way around.”

Under the Devil Island Project, more than $2.5 million was raised, with the help of state and federal governments, to build six large-scale quarantine facilities or “islands” to house disease-free devils before their release.

“It is the whole team which should be nominated for an award,” Mr Englefield said.

“Our job was to have the idea, raise money to build the enclosures, liaise with property owners and then hand them over to the Save the Devil Program.”

The recently completed Devil Island near Hobart is now being used as a halfway house for devils imported back from interstate before they are relocated to Maria Island.

As a parting gesture, $35,000 of funding will go to the Menzies Institute and to the University of Sydney for research projects.

Wildlife carers wanting to be part of Mr Englefield’s research are invited to fill out a questionnaire to help ascertain how many marsupials are released back into the wild and how they are raised to be behaviourally suitable for release.

The link is: https://redcap. sydney. edu. au/ surveys/ ?s=NHTLWLKTRT