“The Tasmanian Devil is a loveable marsupial… with serious attitude. A devastating disease threatens their species. Hope rests on a few devils born in captivity. Their mission: leave their safe surroundings, train for an elite squad, head for an isolated island, and life in the wild.”
Aussie Animal Island, narrated by Jason Donovan, sees a group of Tasmanian Devils hauled from the luxury of Australian zoos and sanctuaries then released into the wilds of a remote island. If they can fend for themselves they might just save their entire species from extinction. But how will the island’s teeming wildlife cope with the arrival of their new neighbours?
The Tasmanian Devil is a marsupial carnivore whose name derives from the ferocious growls and cries that terrified the early European settlers at night. Devils only live wild in the island state of Tasmania but the species is threatened with extinction.
Since 1996 the Tasmanian Devil has fallen prey to a highly contagious facial cancer that has already wiped out eighty per cent of the wild population. Following the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger, in 1936, the very real prospect of losing the species due to the Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) has mobilised the world’s scientific community.
Now, a team of scientists has hatched an audacious plan to save these devilishly delightful little critters from extinction. They will create an ‘insurance’ population of disease-free Devils on an island off the coast of Tasmania. It’s a risky experiment – because ‘disease-free’ means ‘captive’ and the hand-reared animals have never hunted for themselves, found shelter or faced a predator.
The current residents of the island - wombats, penguins, kangaroos and geese – must also adapt to the presence of these aggressive new arrivals or else they and their young may die.
Using the latest technology, Aussie Animal Island will follow the selection process, transportation, release and the fortunes of fifteen devils as they unwittingly fight for the survival of their kind.
The series follows the Devils as they rediscover their natural instincts to hunt, mate, and – with a little luck – rear their own in this make or break year for the many mammals, marsupials and birds on Aussie Animal Island.
