Tasmanian devils face an extinction-level threat from a contagious cancer that causes disfiguring facial tumors, raising profound welfare and conservation challenges.
Tasmanian devil DFTD welfare is remarkable in its mechanism — a contagious cancer transmitted through the normal social behaviors of these intensely interactive animals. Devils infected with DFTD develop tumors around their mouths and faces that grow until they cannot eat. Death from starvation in a previously healthy, vigorous animal is profoundly cruel. The conservation response — insurance populations, vaccine development, and identification of naturally resistant individuals — represents a race against extinction that has welfare improvement embedded in every survival strategy.