90% of Tasmanian Devils have died. Extinction likely.

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Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) has a 100% fatality rate.

It has killed 90% of the species since 1996.

They have captured 500 breeding pairs to be kept in Zoos to prevent total extinction, but extinction in the wild is all but guaranteed.

Brought to you by the always annoying Destin of S.E.D.
*video keeps tripping captcha*

Fancy that, an extinction not caused by humans...go figure

Yeah, we did find something we agree on .
To most people, it seems to be a good idea to hurl water and fertilizer around indiscriminately. I try to educate people to not use artificial water soluble fertilizers because it pollutes the aquifers. I live in an area were there are many native trees that are adapted to dry summers, and you have to work hard to convince them to not water their trees. Some people won't listen, and then I have to lecture them again and then still some of them won't listen. Very frustrating.

I grow organic vegetables for people in their home gardens, some of which are over 1 acre; I trim trees; I prune fruit trees (my favorite), mostly apples and pears; and I do a little dry land farming (oats and rye) to feed my animals.
It sounds like you have had a lot of success with hydroponics. I tried it once and found that I vastly prefer free soil.

I'm blaming part of that on American culture-- more is better, biggie size it, go large, etc. I think most uneducated gardeners in this country assume that if a plant isn't well just toss more s**t on it because that's how they live their lives.

I've never done trees or orchards, I'd like to, but the climate were I live is very unforgiving. I'm in a region where the Rocky Mountains give way to the tip of the Sonoran desert's ecology. We get cold winters and hot summers, and the land is fairly infertile and arid, aside from the rivers that come off the Rockies. I had to move into hydroponics to grow a large number of plants that I wanted to try. Basically the only thing that grows well in soil here are beans. My thought on soil is that it's not hard to get something to grow but it takes a long time to master growing it properly and to full efficiency, and hydroponics is kind of opposite, it takes a long time just to get something to grow but when you do it's pretty easy to be efficient. I'm also into metrics, and hydro is just naturally geared for collecting data-- I'm one of those anal retentive Aspies that absorbs information like crack-cocaine.

I'm curious about oats, I may ask you some questions through PM about them in the future if you don't mind. I want to try hydro grain next spring, the way hydro works it's easier to grow grains in soil than hydro for efficiency's sake but I still want to try my hand at it.

That's sad. I heard that they're working on a vaccine. I hope it's successful.

You missed (or chose to ignore) a significant point I was trying to make, naturalplastic. By jumping to easy, convenient conclusions, people frequently do more harm than good. I see and hear about it all the time. I have run into a fair number of customers who, when they see a problem with their plants, proceed to hurl fertilizer and water at them, which frequently is the wrong thing to do. Going on a knee-jerk reaction when you have insufficient information is often destructive. You end up killing what you were trying to save.
If you are basing your conclusions on scientific studies, bear in mind that these people live in ivory towers, and the way to get is a degree is to answer the questions with what the professors want to hear, not with the truth. I know, I have two degrees. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I can cite two grand examples :
1) I have a copy of Jepson's Guide to California Plants. It is a very good reference source except for when they talk about the rarity of a number of plants. They claim, for instance, that Kennedy's Maricopa Lily is endangered. BS.I not only have a number of them growing all over my property, but I see them everywhere in the proper season (early summer).
2) The USDA Plant Data Base lists Baby Blueeyes (Nemophila menziesii menziesii) as not present in Kern and Ventura Counties, but they show it being present in all the surrounding counties. I see them up here all over the place. I reported this fact to them, they said no way, and I said " Come up here and look". They obviously did, or, more likely they took my word on it, and they corrected this mistake.
The 'experts' can't be bothered to get out of their air-conditioned offices to actually look at what they talk about. Most research is done by their students ( including me at one time) who may or may not be looking at things with a clear eye.

Still havent gotten over that moment in my childhood when I saw an actual photograph of one in a nature book. Before that I had assumed that Tasmanian devils were mythical creatures invented by the cartoonists at Warner Brothers, and was delighted to learn that they were an actual animal.

Hope that they can stay existing in real life.

The majority of species that have ever existed are extinct.

Extinction is a natural process, ask a biologist. It is diffuclt to say in this case what is that cause.

Regarding pandas, there isn't a good argument for captive breading. They are massively expensive to keep, the ecological footprint isn't that significant. I do support preserving their habitat, and leaving them alone. The money wasted on Panda captive breading could be better spent on other conservation projects.

Good conservation isn't actually about preserving every animal.

I lived in Tasmania from 1991 to 2008.
I noticed the decline in numbers due to the increase of old road kill. Devils are scavengers and would keep the roads clean of dead wallabies, wombats etc. It's such a shame they are dying out, but there are quite a few in captivity so hopefully the species will be saved.
Also, some people believe there are still Tassie Tigers in the wild, my sister is certain she saw one in her yard a few years ago.

ssshhhush....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egRgweL12Uc