Five young Tasmanian devils have taken up residence at a wildlife park in New Zealand.
The arrival last week of Pendlebury, Chester Campbell, Steele, Fox and John brings the number of Tasmanian devils at Christchurch’s Orana Wildlife Park to nine, meaning the South Island city has one of the largest holdings of devils outside of Australia.
The devils were transferred to Christchurch as part of the Save the Tasmanian Devil (STDP) Ambassador Programme.
“We are thrilled to welcome the five new boys to Orana,’’ says the park’s exotic species manager, Rachael Mason.
“Chester Campbell is the feistiest of the new arrivals and Fox doesn’t lag far behind in that regard. Steele and Pendleberry are rather mellow and John is the smallest and is quite calm and quiet but has beautiful long whiskers.’
“It is an absolute privilege for Orana to be involved in the Ambassador Programme and raise awareness on the plight of these magnificent marsupials,” she said.
Devils@Cradle’s Managing Director, Wade Anthony, accompanied the Tasmanian devils to Christchurch.
“Pendlebury and Steele are brothers and Fox is their half-brother and all were born at our sanctuary in 2019. Chester Campbell and John are unrelated and moved to Devils@Cradle from the STDP programme for this transfer. These adult devils are in great condition,” he said.
“They have travelled well and I know they will settle in to a happy and healthy life here at Orana because Christchurch (the South Island) has a very similar climate and vegetation to Tasmania and Orana has a wonderful facility constructed specifically for devils.”
Tasmanian devils are the world’s largest surviving carnivorous marsupials. They are nocturnal animals who live for approximately five to seven years in captivity.
