As the largest surviving marsupial carnivore, the Tasmanian devil is an iconic species. A disfiguring and invariably fatal facial cancer, first reported in 1996, has now spread across most of the range of the devil, leading to population declines of up to 90% and a prognosis of likely extinction in 15-20 years. Transmission experiments have confirmed that the cancer is infectious and genetic evidence shows that it is a transmissible cell line. Potential management strategies are limited, but include establishing insurance populations, disease suppression by removal of infected individuals, selection for resistance and developing a vaccine. None of these strategies is guaranteed to be successful. Some, such as establishing free-ranging populations on offshore islands that currently have no devil population, might possibly impact on other threatened species. We evaluate the range of management options and argue that conservation biologists sometimes prefer “sins of omission”, failing to take action, with attendant risks, over “sins of commission”, taking actions that might backfire.
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October 14 2011
Sins of omission and sins of commission: St Thomas Aquinas and the devil Open Access
Hamish McCallum;
Hamish McCallum
1
School of Zoology, The University of Tasmania, Private Bag 5 Hobart 7005
3
Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Kessel's Rd Nathan 4111
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Menna Jones
Menna Jones
2
School of Zoology, The University of Tasmania, Private Bag 5 Hobart 7005
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Australian Zoologist (2010) 35 (2): 307–314.
Citation
Hamish McCallum, Menna Jones; Sins of omission and sins of commission: St Thomas Aquinas and the devil. Australian Zoologist 1 January 2010; 35 (2): 307–314. doi: https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2010.019
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