ABOVE: A Tasmanian devil
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Earlier this month, an environmental organization announced it had released 26 Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) into a sanctuary north of Sydney as part of a project to reintroduce the species to the Australian mainland, where it has not existed in the wild for about 3,000 years. The Scientist spoke with John Ewen, a conservation biologist at the Zoological Society of London who is not involved in the Tasmanian devil project, about how scientists figure out when reintroducing a species is desirable and feasible, and what factors play into the success of such efforts. Ewen’s research focuses on how to prevent critically endangered species from going extinct, often using conservation translocations as a tool.
John Ewen: That’s a real challenging question. The way that I would approach it, and I would recommend groups approach it, is to think about what they want to achieve, because ...
