Without the Tasmanian devil, the landscape of Tasmania will be lacking its most important predator. The devil is now threatened by a condition which kills it slowly, as Telepolis reports (in German).

The cause of this appears to be a combination of introduced dogs and poisons used in the logging industry. The Tasmania people do not want to talk about these reasons, despite the huge income they get from tourists, who want to see and hear the indigenous devils. In Australia, we hear nothing about endangered devils.

Dogs carry the disease which is killing devils, but it does not kill them. The huge numbers of dogs which are now kept in Australia have become a vector for the devil disease.

The forests of Tasmania are clear-felled for their wood. All the trees are removed and new seedlings are planted. Poison baits are laid for wallabies and other plant-eating animals to protect these small trees. The dead wallabies are then eaten by devils.

The combination of poisons in the environment and ever-present domestic dogs weakens and infects the devils. They get tumours on their faces which slowly grow, causing starvation of the faceless animals.