I鈥檓 sharing a ride with two very cranky and confused Tasmanian devils, loaded in the back of our all-terrain vehicle inside large plastic traps. These devils are a long way from their species鈥� home on the island of Tasmania. Instead, we are bumping along inside a wild but securely fenced 400-hectare sanctuary in Barrington Tops, 4 hours north of Sydney, Australia.
Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) did live on the Australian mainland once upon a time, but it is thought that they , probably because of the arrival of Australia鈥檚 native dog, the dingo (Canis lupus dingo), along with pressure from humans and climate change. Dingoes didn鈥檛 make it to Tasmania, which was cut off from the mainland around 10,000 years ago by rising sea levels, and so the devils survived there.
Now, however, throughout much of south-eastern Australia, the dingo is also mostly gone, hunted and baited because it is a pest to farmers. Consequently, non-native feral cats and foxes have torn through native fauna, especially small mammals, leading to a cascade of extinctions and endangered populations.
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As our vehicles crawl along, snaking between giant, ancient trees, something extraordinary happens. From out of the bracken understorey, a Tasmanian devil, the size of a small dog, lopes out in front of us. For a few seconds it scampers along the track, and then it vanishes back into the vegetation.
To see Australia鈥檚 largest marsupial carnivore roaming where it hasn鈥檛 been for millennia is an extremely disorienting moment. But if , who is driving me through the forest, has his way, this will be a scene replicated across the nation. By the end of 2026, he and his team want to see Tasmanian devils being released outside of the sanctuary鈥檚 fences, directly into the mainland Australian environment. After which, he says, the scavenger-predator will need to be renamed.
鈥淚 believe the devil is the Australian devil,鈥� he says.
A few minutes later, we descend the mountain into an old-growth eucalyptus forest, and Faulkner parks the vehicle at the spot where our precious cargo is being released. The first devil doesn鈥檛 need much encouragement and, after sliding out of its trap, it trots off, only to circle back a minute later. The second resists coming out of its trap and then sits frozen on the ground for several minutes after being tipped out. Eventually, though, it too disappears into the forest.
The complex where the sanctuary is located includes numerous breeding enclosures for a range of species: desperately endangered brush-tailed rock wallabies (Petrogale penicillate), eastern quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus), long nosed potoroos (Potorous tridactylus) and broad-toothed rats (Mastacomys fuscus). All these species, except broad-toothed rats, are being released alongside the Tasmanian devils from the breeding enclosures into the sanctuary.
The devils were brought to Barrington as an insurance population because their numbers have plummeted in Tasmania from an estimated , after the species was ravaged by devil facial tumour disease, a contagious form of cancer.
Since 2010, 500 devil joeys have been born at Aussie Ark in Barrington. Around 50 have been released into the fenced sanctuary, and at any time there are around 200 devils in the complex.
Now Faulkner鈥檚 team wants to take the next step of getting these animals out from behind fences and back into the broader mainland environment. He thinks they would help restore balance to the ecosystem by keeping other predators under control.
鈥淭asmanian devils are a natural control solution for foxes and cats and they do that because foxes and cats den their joeys [young], and the devils can go down there into the dens and eat them,鈥� says Faulkner. 鈥淧redators don鈥檛 really like predators, so [the adults] avoid each other.鈥�
After the release of the two males into the sanctuary, I witness first-hand why he is convinced devils could give feral foxes and cats a run for their money in the Australian bush. A kangaroo leg has been fed to around half a dozen devils in a breeding area of the complex, and it is one of the most gruesome displays of carnivory and gore imaginable.
It is no exaggeration to say that if you closed your eyes and just listened to the devils feasting, it could easily be the soundtrack to a zombie movie. Pound for pound, they have among the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom and a bloodlust that doesn鈥檛 belie their name.
Faulkner鈥檚 plan to release devils into mainland ecosystems has some high-profile supporters, including at the Australian Museum in Sydney. But what effect they would have on other predators remains to be seen. 鈥淚 believe that the first, obvious step is to release devils into a fenced area that includes feral cats and foxes, and determine the impact,鈥� says Flannery. 鈥淒evils may consume young cats and foxes and compete for scavenge.鈥�
at the University of Tasmania says there is undeniable evidence that devils suppress feral cat numbers in Tasmania, but because foxes aren鈥檛 present on the island, the impact devils would have on them is unknown.
It will be important to bring the community along with the project, particularly farmers, she says. While foxes can kill lambs, so too can Tasmanian devils.
鈥淩eintroducing an extinct predator, whether it鈥檚 been gone for 50 years or 3000 years, is a really big deal,鈥� says Jones. 鈥淵ou do not put a predator into an open landscape without a whole raft of considerations.鈥�
鈥淚f we鈥檙e interested in restoring species and communities and ecological function, then the devil is part of the mainland鈥檚 fauna, so from that point of view, this would be a really good thing to do,鈥� she adds.
The way Faulkner sees things, the return of Tasmanian devils is urgently needed to prevent the death spiral of biodiversity in Australian ecosystems. By helping keep fox and cat numbers suppressed, Tasmanian devils would serve as a protector to a suite of disappearing animals 鈥� mirroring the successful reintroduction of a top predator in the US in the 1990s. 鈥淭his is our returning the wolves to Yellowstone project,鈥� he says.
