Latest news with #DeanReid
The Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
‘Really amazing': joy as 10 Tasmanian devil joeys emerge from Australia's biggest mainland breeding program
Ten tiny, egg-like joeys have been confirmed as the newest members of mainland Australia's largest fleet of Tasmanian devils. It comes after the first pouch check of the 2025 breeding season at Aussie Ark's Barrington Tops sanctuary in northern NSW. A recent deluge that brought more than 600mm to the region didn't rain on the devils' parade, with a spokesperson saying all the joeys, mums and dads were safe. Operation manager, Dean Reid, said up to four more devils are expected to conceive in June in the final breeding window of the year. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'It's really amazing to be able to handle a devil … and see those amazing devils come out of the pouch,' Reid said on Thursday. 'These gnarly, big, chunky animals have little baby joeys in their pouch. 'We've got four more females that didn't have them and one we missed, so more joeys to come.' The Tasmanian devils' mating season occurs over three cycles from February to June, with birth coming after 21 days' gestation. When catching the devils, the conservationists found there was a mix of joeys from the first and second cycle conceptions. Reid also said the joeys' fathers and mothers were doing well. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'While we have the females, we do a full health check, we're doing body scores, weight and giving them preventatives,' Reid said. 'In a couple of months, we're going to see little tiny joeys running around.' The announcement comes on World Environment Day.
The Advertiser
4 days ago
- General
- The Advertiser
10 tiny, pink additions: Tassie devil joeys born in the Barrington Tops
TINY and pink, 10 new, healthy Tasmanian devil joeys have been found in their mothers' pouches. The new additions were confirmed during the first pouch check of the 2025 breeding season at Aussie Ark in the Barrington Tops. Ark operations manager Dean Reid said the arrival of the joeys was magical after the devastating floods that swept through the wildlife sanctuary just weeks ago. "It's really amazing to be able to handle the devil and see these amazing joeys come out of the pouch. They're such a gnarly animal with this tiny baby joey - it's amazing," he said. The pouch checks were conducted in two dedicated breeding yards within the Species Recovery Unit by Mr Reid, senior conservation ranger Nero Rochet and wildlife ranger Laura Chapman. "Each yard houses four females and four males, with trapping carried out late at night and checked at first light to minimise stress," Mr Reid said. "Of the eight females captured during this round, four had joeys, ranging in size from a finger lime indicating pregnancy during the first oestrus cycle, to the size of a date, suggesting a second cycle conception." The three females with empty pouches are entering their third oestrus and may still become pregnant this season. "Hopefully, there are more joeys in the pouch. This is a really important time of year for us to be checking the female devils and their joeys to ensure they're in prime health," he said. "We're proud to be the largest breeding facility for Tasmanian devils on mainland Australia, and even more proud to welcome our latest little bubbas." Aussie Ark's Tasmanian devil breeding program is a cornerstone of the organisation's conservation work. "Each new arrival brings the species one step closer to recovery in the wild." Mr Reid said. TINY and pink, 10 new, healthy Tasmanian devil joeys have been found in their mothers' pouches. The new additions were confirmed during the first pouch check of the 2025 breeding season at Aussie Ark in the Barrington Tops. Ark operations manager Dean Reid said the arrival of the joeys was magical after the devastating floods that swept through the wildlife sanctuary just weeks ago. "It's really amazing to be able to handle the devil and see these amazing joeys come out of the pouch. They're such a gnarly animal with this tiny baby joey - it's amazing," he said. The pouch checks were conducted in two dedicated breeding yards within the Species Recovery Unit by Mr Reid, senior conservation ranger Nero Rochet and wildlife ranger Laura Chapman. "Each yard houses four females and four males, with trapping carried out late at night and checked at first light to minimise stress," Mr Reid said. "Of the eight females captured during this round, four had joeys, ranging in size from a finger lime indicating pregnancy during the first oestrus cycle, to the size of a date, suggesting a second cycle conception." The three females with empty pouches are entering their third oestrus and may still become pregnant this season. "Hopefully, there are more joeys in the pouch. This is a really important time of year for us to be checking the female devils and their joeys to ensure they're in prime health," he said. "We're proud to be the largest breeding facility for Tasmanian devils on mainland Australia, and even more proud to welcome our latest little bubbas." Aussie Ark's Tasmanian devil breeding program is a cornerstone of the organisation's conservation work. "Each new arrival brings the species one step closer to recovery in the wild." Mr Reid said. TINY and pink, 10 new, healthy Tasmanian devil joeys have been found in their mothers' pouches. The new additions were confirmed during the first pouch check of the 2025 breeding season at Aussie Ark in the Barrington Tops. Ark operations manager Dean Reid said the arrival of the joeys was magical after the devastating floods that swept through the wildlife sanctuary just weeks ago. "It's really amazing to be able to handle the devil and see these amazing joeys come out of the pouch. They're such a gnarly animal with this tiny baby joey - it's amazing," he said. The pouch checks were conducted in two dedicated breeding yards within the Species Recovery Unit by Mr Reid, senior conservation ranger Nero Rochet and wildlife ranger Laura Chapman. "Each yard houses four females and four males, with trapping carried out late at night and checked at first light to minimise stress," Mr Reid said. "Of the eight females captured during this round, four had joeys, ranging in size from a finger lime indicating pregnancy during the first oestrus cycle, to the size of a date, suggesting a second cycle conception." The three females with empty pouches are entering their third oestrus and may still become pregnant this season. "Hopefully, there are more joeys in the pouch. This is a really important time of year for us to be checking the female devils and their joeys to ensure they're in prime health," he said. "We're proud to be the largest breeding facility for Tasmanian devils on mainland Australia, and even more proud to welcome our latest little bubbas." Aussie Ark's Tasmanian devil breeding program is a cornerstone of the organisation's conservation work. "Each new arrival brings the species one step closer to recovery in the wild." Mr Reid said. TINY and pink, 10 new, healthy Tasmanian devil joeys have been found in their mothers' pouches. The new additions were confirmed during the first pouch check of the 2025 breeding season at Aussie Ark in the Barrington Tops. Ark operations manager Dean Reid said the arrival of the joeys was magical after the devastating floods that swept through the wildlife sanctuary just weeks ago. "It's really amazing to be able to handle the devil and see these amazing joeys come out of the pouch. They're such a gnarly animal with this tiny baby joey - it's amazing," he said. The pouch checks were conducted in two dedicated breeding yards within the Species Recovery Unit by Mr Reid, senior conservation ranger Nero Rochet and wildlife ranger Laura Chapman. "Each yard houses four females and four males, with trapping carried out late at night and checked at first light to minimise stress," Mr Reid said. "Of the eight females captured during this round, four had joeys, ranging in size from a finger lime indicating pregnancy during the first oestrus cycle, to the size of a date, suggesting a second cycle conception." The three females with empty pouches are entering their third oestrus and may still become pregnant this season. "Hopefully, there are more joeys in the pouch. This is a really important time of year for us to be checking the female devils and their joeys to ensure they're in prime health," he said. "We're proud to be the largest breeding facility for Tasmanian devils on mainland Australia, and even more proud to welcome our latest little bubbas." Aussie Ark's Tasmanian devil breeding program is a cornerstone of the organisation's conservation work. "Each new arrival brings the species one step closer to recovery in the wild." Mr Reid said.
West Australian
4 days ago
- Climate
- West Australian
Baby blitz set to continue with 'gnarly' devils
Conservationists see jellybean-shaped Tasmanian devil joeys as "amazing" compared to their gnarly and chunky mothers. Ten egg-like joeys have been confirmed as the newest members of mainland Australia's largest fleet of Tasmanian devils. It follows the first pouch check of the 2025 breeding season at Aussie Ark's Barrington Tops sanctuary in northern NSW. A recent deluge that brought more than 600mm to the region also didn't rain on the devils' parade, with a spokesman saying all the joeys, mums and dads were safe. Operation manager Dean Reid said up to four more devils are expected to conceive in June in the final breeding window of the year. "It's really amazing to be able to handle a devil ... and see those amazing devils come out of the pouch," Mr Reid said on Thursday. "These gnarly, big, chunky animals have little baby joeys in their pouch. "We've got four more females that didn't have them and one we missed, so more joeys to come." The Tasmanian devils' mating season occurs over three cycles from February to June, with birth coming after 21 days' gestation. When catching the devils, the conservationists found there was a mix of joeys from the first and second cycle conceptions. Mr Reid also said the joeys' fathers and mothers were doing well. "While we have the females, we do a full health check, we're doing body scores, weight and giving them preventatives," Mr Reid said. "In a couple of months, we're going to see little tiny joeys running around." The announcement comes on World Environment Day.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Climate
- Perth Now
Baby blitz set to continue with 'gnarly' devils
Conservationists see jellybean-shaped Tasmanian devil joeys as "amazing" compared to their gnarly and chunky mothers. Ten egg-like joeys have been confirmed as the newest members of mainland Australia's largest fleet of Tasmanian devils. It follows the first pouch check of the 2025 breeding season at Aussie Ark's Barrington Tops sanctuary in northern NSW. A recent deluge that brought more than 600mm to the region also didn't rain on the devils' parade, with a spokesman saying all the joeys, mums and dads were safe. Operation manager Dean Reid said up to four more devils are expected to conceive in June in the final breeding window of the year. "It's really amazing to be able to handle a devil ... and see those amazing devils come out of the pouch," Mr Reid said on Thursday. "These gnarly, big, chunky animals have little baby joeys in their pouch. "We've got four more females that didn't have them and one we missed, so more joeys to come." The Tasmanian devils' mating season occurs over three cycles from February to June, with birth coming after 21 days' gestation. When catching the devils, the conservationists found there was a mix of joeys from the first and second cycle conceptions. Mr Reid also said the joeys' fathers and mothers were doing well. "While we have the females, we do a full health check, we're doing body scores, weight and giving them preventatives," Mr Reid said. "In a couple of months, we're going to see little tiny joeys running around." The announcement comes on World Environment Day.
ABC News
23-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Largest interstate Tasmanian devil breeding program devastated by NSW floods
Dean Reid So the situation is that we've had our sister organisation, Australian Reptile Park, come up yesterday with boots on the ground to get a lot of this stuff fixed that we need to. Every time we fix one of our sanctuary fences, there's so much water pumping through it, it broke again. So we've had our breach response in traps outside, just building the fence every day. While there's water pumping through it, it's pretty safe to say that no animals got out. We had camera traps on there too, which didn't pick anything up. And now we're just sort of triaging stuff, just making sure all the animals are safe. One of our devil pens was fully flooded, so we were pulling devils out of there the other day and putting them in vet block. So, yeah, but everyone's good so far. Kylie Baxter So the devils are safe, you just had to relocate them through the mud and the rain and these terrible conditions? Dean Reid Yeah, they usually live in little burrows. They dig their own burrows or under logs and stuff like that. Just one yard is in the back corner of the sanctuary where all the breeding animals are. The ones out into the BWS, which is our big sanctuary, we have about 50 devils out there. We've done a check around and they're running around and we put food out and monitored them. So they're all OK. But yeah, we did have to move about 10 devils out of one yard and we'll just have to wait for that flooding to go down in there. Kylie Baxter And do you have to put big gloves on? Because they're not always the friendliest creatures, are they, despite what people think? Dean Reid That's true. No. If you haven't hand raised one, then no, they are a bit aggressive. But the way you handle them is basically tailing them, getting them out very quickly and putting them in traps and then locating them somewhere else. Kylie Baxter I imagine a devil bite would not be a lot of fun. Dean Reid No, it's not a lot of fun. And yeah, we have to go to hospital and get that cleaned out if we get one. I've been working with devils for 14 years now and I've, touch wood, never been bitten by one. Kylie Baxter OK, that is good news. I'm glad about that. So are you preparing for more rain or what's happening as far as the weather event? Dean Reid So I've had about 500 mls all up on the Barrington Tops. It was sunny this morning, but it's come over cloudy and it's raining again. But just it's misty rain. So we've got everything in place at the moment. We've got fences coming in tomorrow. The water levels have dropped in all the creek lines. So we have a big fence coming in tomorrow to fix that section of fence. We went out this morning and double checked it and put some tin around it just so we, you know, just make sure it's extra safe. So we're not getting anything going out and anything coming in. We don't want cats and foxes coming in, obviously. But yeah, at the moment, we're sort of triaging everything. So we've just done a big flood appeal, which are on our socials, if anyone wants to go and have a look. Kylie Baxter Dean, what about the koalas? Is there any issues there or have they just climbed up to higher ground in their trees? Dean Reid Koalas always live high up in the tree. They will come to ground and go to tree to tree, but they sort of hunker down. They're built for this kind of thing. They curl up in a ball. They've got two layers of fur, one thick and one long and one short. And so I was looking at them today. I went and tracked all the koalas and they all look really well and healthy. But with so much rain and we've had so much rain constantly, that's why we got so flooded in the last three months is just constant rain and the water's got nowhere to go. But koalas can get a thing like septicemia if they're not monitored with too much rain, too wet and things like that. But all our koalas look great. Kylie Baxter Fantastic. And any other animals that you have there that you're keeping an eye on? Dean Reid Yeah. So our eastern quoll enclosures, we've got something like 80 quolls. One side of them, unfortunately, is concreted in, not like it's got concrete base around it, but it's dirt. Unfortunately, they all flooded. So we had to pull all the eastern quolls out of that side and re-home them into other areas. So that was, you know, all the quolls were up in their nest box, nice and dry. But obviously it was fully flooded in there. So they have to stay in there. They couldn't get to the ground. So we've moved all those and all our hand-raised animals like Pippidi the palmer, we just pull them in when it's really wet because they're not used to such wet conditions and we want to make sure they're nice and safe. Kylie Baxter And what are you hearing from colleagues and friends around the state? Because we're seeing some really sad pictures of animals trapped by these floodwaters. Dean Reid Yeah, it's terrible to see. Like, you know, we've been hit pretty hard up here, but thankfully, you know, we've got lots of boots on the ground and we're doing what we need to do. But it's just terrible to see the devastation in Taree and Port Macquarie and all those places and seeing cows on beaches. But on a good note, my neighbour next door was trying to get his pump out and a platypus popped right up. So they're doing well. Kylie Baxter Oh, well, that's good to hear. Look, I'm really glad that all of your animals are safe and that you're, you know, now able to get on the ground and do what you need to do. Dean, thanks for updating us on the situation. Dean Reid No, my pleasure. Thanks for having us.
