Tasmanian devil now endangered species

HOBART, Australia, May 22 (UPI) -- The Australian government listed the Tasmanian devil, a dog-like marsupial, as an endangered species Thursday.

Experts warn the devils could be extinct within a few decades unless the population is stabilized, The Hobart Mercury reported. Hamish McCallum, a scientist with the Devil Facial Tumor Disease Program, said that numbers have dropped by 60 percent in only 10 years.

"If things go the way they are, we may see extinction in the next 20-40 years in the wild," he said.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the government is taking "strong action" to save the devils, including spending millions of dollars on the effort.

The Tasmanian devil, the largest surviving marsupial carnivore, became extinct in mainland Australia several hundred years before European settlement. In Tasmania, farmers considered them a threat to livestock, and they were hunted until 1941.

Tasmania upgraded the devil from threatened to endangered last year.