Symbio To Continue As Devil's Advocate

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday June 29, 2006

By GREG ELLIS

SYMBIO Wildlife Gardens, at Stanwell Tops, has received approval to start work on a Tasmanian devil exhibit that could help save the native animal from extinction.

Park operations manager Matthew Radnidge said up to 65 per cent of the Tasmanian devil population had been wiped out by a rare facial cancer and this was a significant step in Symbio's quest to help the species survive.

Mr Radnidge said Symbio had secured approval from the Department of Primary Industries to construct an exhibit and work would begin straight away.

The park has to go through a number of regulatory bodies to secure the animals and once the exhibit is complete it has a much stronger case to secure permission from the Department of Environment and Heritage to bring in breeding females from Tasmania.

"If we build a facility that meets the standard to house Tasmanian devils it gives us a good argument to get them up here," Mr Radnidge said.

"If they don't let us breed them on the mainland they could soon be gone. We would act as a holding facility for them down there."

A wildlife park in Tasmania had identified two suitable females for Symbio.

© 2006 Illawarra Mercury

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