Thermal imaging drones, sniffer dogs, police, and a growing army of volunteers are being deployed in the Australian state of Queensland after a nefarious Tasmanian Devil escaped its zoo enclosure to begin life on the run.
The two-year-old endangered marsupial, named Mary, fled the Paradise Country wildlife park on the Gold Coast in the dead of night, after arriving at the facility last month, ABC News reports.
Park officials said the perimeter had been scoured, with Queensland Police and Wildcare Australia also joining the search as it expanded into surrounding areas.
University of Queensland adjunct professor and captive animal management expert Al Mucci told the ABC he believed Mary was likely still nearby.
FILE: The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now confined to the island of Tasmania. (JOUAN/RIUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
“There is a lot of natural bushland area surrounding Paradise Country, so she could move up to a kilometre or so,” he said, per the ABC report.
“She’s probably a little bit scared because it’s all new and maybe [she] found a little hidey spot near a log or a dog kennel even.”
Tasmanian devils are extinct on the Australian mainland and endangered in the island state of Tasmania, where fewer than 25,000 remain in the wild.
While generally shy, they can be aggressive when provoked or approached by humans and are known for their sometimes aggressive manner.
The Tasmanian Devil has often taken on mythical qualities as featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons in the 1960s.
That character was called “Taz”
On June 16, 2023, it was announced Taz would appear in a stop-motion short animated by Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe.