The Tasmanian Devil Faces Extinction Due to Rare Cancer
By scorpiobabes
@scorpiobabes (7225)
United States
February 19, 2007 1:49pm CST
I was reading on Yahoo today that the Tasmanian Devil (native to Australia) is dying from a mutant cancer that kills within six months. Some of the researchers feel that the species could be extinct within a decade.
One of my favorite Looney Tunes characters is Taz--yeah he's ferocious but he has his moments!:)
Link to the story: http://tinyurl.com/388p3p
What do you think could be causing it and do you agree with officials moving groups of them to local Australian zoos in an effort to protect them?
3 people like this
3 responses
@unusualsuspect (2602)
• United States
19 Feb 07
That's sad, but not too surprising. A lot of animal species are developing diseases that are in danger of wiping them out. Scientists think that part of it is environmental stress--pollution, changing climate, etc. Several species of frogs are dying from a fungus that's spreading quickly.
2 people like this
@scorpiobabes (7225)
• United States
19 Feb 07
Wow, it's scary to think that there are animals that have been around our entire lives may be extinct soon? I also read that they found 4 new species of bats that feed exclusively on frogs. Why can't they find something that will kill roaches?
@patootie (3592)
•
21 Feb 07
Sounds like man has managed to pollute yet another wildlife area in some way .. if moving them helps to save the animal from extinction they must do it .. just so long as they can find out what ois causing the cancer in the first place .. last thing we want is for a mutant cancer to start jumping species ... there are enough medical emergencies in this world already ..
Let's hope they quickly sort out what is causing the problem ...
1 person likes this
