Cedric the Tasmanian Devil has died. Or perhaps I should say, Cedric has been killed. He was deliberately introduced to Devil Facial Tumour Disease, an aggressively infectious, fatal cancer that is threatening to make the Devils go the way of the Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, which probably became extinct in the 1930s (some sightings are still occasionally reported but none has been substantiated). Cedric showed some early signs of resistance to the disease, but succumbed at the age of 6, euthanised when it became clear the cancer had spread internally. The search for a vaccine, or even a clue to how resistance might be cultivated in the species, continues.
Marsupial species are very fragile, competing poorly with mammals in their various niches. Human movement has made island sanctuaries like Tasmania far less safe for these remnants of a branch of life that once populated Australia and South America with giants. I’m not whinging about that, it’s a fact of life, but humans can do something to help. The research that took Cedric’s life might just save his species.
