Crowdfunding campaign leads to major discovery of healthy Tasmanian devils

Tasmanian devils are on the brink of extinction, but there's a glimmer of hope. And it's shining brightly.

Scientists exploring Tasmania's southwest wilderness discovered a group of the animals that so far appears to be completely free of the contagious cancer that is ravaging the rest of the population.

According to the Tasmanian government, a team led by Dr. Sam Fox trapped 14 healthy devils free of Devil Facial Tumour Disease — a cancer that spreads from devil to devil and results in the marsupials' death.

The Independent reports that, since the discovery of the disease, the population of wild devils has declined by 80 percent.

So yeah, this is a big deal.

“From our trapping we found that the ages of the devils ranged from 18 months to five years which is a good sign to show disease is not present as we just don’t trap devils as old as these in areas of the State where DFTD is found,” Dr. Fox explained in a statement.

The research trip, a joint effort by the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, The University of Sydney, and the Toledo Zoo, was funded in part via a crowdfunding campaign with 106 donors.

“This trip would not have been possible without community support through the crowdfunding campaign, the STDP and the international partner zoos,” Dr Carolyn Hogg, Research Manager of the Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group, said in a statement.

That's right, a crowdfunding campaign led to what could turn out to be the Tasmanian devils' best hope of longterm survival as a species. Sometimes the internet is good.