Tasmanian devil nominated as Tasmania's official animal emblem

Tasmanian Devils
Photo Courtesy Bob Siegel

Government Urging Support for the Tasmanian Devil

A recent article details an effort being made by the Tasmanian State Government to encourage Tasmanians to back the Tasmanian devil as the state's official emblem. Currently, Tasmania is the only Australian state to lack an official faunal emblem, and the Tasmanian State Government would like to change that by honoring the threatened Tasmanian Devil that is currently being decimated by a facial tumor disease. Many legislators anticipate a high level of community support for the movement, and hope to pass it with little to no opposition.

Reasons to Support the Tasmanian Devil as the Official Animal Emblem of Tasmania

Environment Minister Matthew Groom said he believed that official recognition may assist in generating additional resources to help defeat the facial tumor disease that is affecting many populations of Tasmanian devils. Currently, there are several programs running isolated Tasmanian devil breeding programs to assist in ridding the population of the nasty disease.

Many also believe that most Tasmanians already consider the devil to be their national emblem, and would have few qualms about formalizing that.

For many in the world, the Tasmanian devil is the icon that represents Tasmania, and this new designation may also serve as an opportunity to promote Tasmania to others. 

Concluding thoughts

Tasmanians will have until February 22nd to have their say about the devil becoming their state's animal emblem. "If successful, the devil will stand beside Tasmania's floral emblem, the Tasmanian blue gum, and mineral emblem, crocoite."

Sources

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-11/tasmanian-devil-nominated-as-official-animal-emblem/6010958
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-11/tasmanian-deviljpg/6010972
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/2015/01/12/tasmanian-devil-nominated-for-state-emblem.html

Author

Emily Xie