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Airdate: Devil Island

Who knew that Jason Donovan and Tasmanian Devils went together?

2014-01-27_2125Who knew that Jason Donovan and Tasmanian Devils went together?

They two meet in a six-part series ABC factual series, Devil Island, with Donovan as narrator.

A loveable marsupial with serious attitude, the Tasmanian devil is fighting for its survival. A devastating cancer epidemic threatens to wipe out the species with an estimated 80-percent loss of the wild population due to a highly contagious facial cancer, which first appeared in 1996. The very real prospect of losing the species to Devil Facial Tumour Disease has mobilised the world’s scientific community.

Filmed by renowned wildlife cinematographer David Parer, directed by Andrew Sully, and produced by Sally Ingleton, Devil Island is brilliant family viewing as it follows 15 Tasmanian devils as they are selected from Australian wildlife sanctuaries and released on remote Maria Island off the coast of Tasmania.

Wildlife biologist Phil Wise, vet Sarah Peck, and their team at The Save the Tasmanian Devil Program have developed a bold plan to establish an “insurance” population of disease-free devils in the wild. The plan is to transfer fifteen devils from the safety of captivity and release them onto Maria Island where they’ll need to rediscover their instincts.

As these devils are captive animals and two have been hand-reared; they’ve never hunted, found shelter or fought off another predator. If they can fend for themselves and establish a breeding population on the island, they might help to save their species from extinction and change the course of Australian wildlife history.

But how will the island’s native wildlife cope with their fiesty new neighbours? Populations of Flinders Island wombats, Little Penguins, Forester kangaroos and Cape Barren geese must adapt to these new predators and learn to share the island with the devils.

Devil Island covers the devil’s first nine months and it’s soon revealed they have a secret mission. Without predators, the numbers of feral cats and Brushtail possums have increased and they are devouring the small mammals and birdlife. When the devils arrive, there’s a new cop in town!

It’s a make-or-break year for 15 little devils as they fight for their survival and the survival of their species. Narrated by Australia’s own Jason Donovan, with stunning cinematography and an unfolding tale of hope and promise, Devil Island is an television event not to be missed!

Saturday, February 1 at 6pm on ABC1.

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