Tassie devil's top Fathers' Day with new joey
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Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria is celebrating Father's Day with one of its Tasmanian devils becoming a father for the first time.
The announcement coincides with Threatened Species Day and is part of the Tasmanian devil breeding program, aimed at ensuring the animal's survival.
A contagious cancer disease has now affected 60 per cent of devils in Tasmania and has led to mainland breeding centres being set up.
Healesville's curator of life sciences Russell Traher says the joey's birth is significant for the Sanctuary.
"It's the first Devil we've produced as part of the mainland ark, we've got a number of partners on the mainland that we're working with," he said.
"Zoos in another three states, and this devil is about four months old and she should start coming out of the pouch in the next couple of weeks."
