AssetID: 52832640
Headline: Tasmanian Devil Celebrates Her First Birthday
Caption: Conservation organisation Aussie Ark is celebrating the first birthday of their favourite hand-raised Tasmanian Devil Sandy. Sandy was born in the winter of 2021, and Operations’ Manager Dean Reid started hand-raising her in August. That same month Australian icon Olivia Newton-John passed away, so the baby Devil was named to honour Olivia’s most famous screen character; Sandy from the movie Grease. The little Devil was adopted with her brother Danny (named after Danny Zuko, John Travolta’s character in Grease and Sandy’s love interest) and for the first few weeks Mr Reid was concerned she ‘might not make it’. “She was a lot smaller than Danny, and very fragile,” Mr Reid said. “But with lots of love and care she pulled through, and was soon giving her brother a run for his money!” Since then Sandy has thrived, and is well known by visitors to the Ark. She was a crowd favourite at this summer’s Open Days at the Barrington Tops facility, revelling in the cuddles and winning the hearts of both young and old. Today she lives in an enclosure with Danny in the Species Recovery Unit. Mr Reid said she is starting to express her ‘wild side’ and will soon be separated from Danny to join Aussie Ark’s world-famous breeding program. The organisation has been breeding and rewilding Devils for over seven years, since being entrusted with a small ‘insurance population’ from Tasmania to help save individuals from the deadly Devil Facial Tumour Disease which has decimated the species. Aussie Ark now boosts the largest Tasmanian Devil population on mainland Australia, many of whom are thriving in the 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary. Most Devils – even those hand-raised like Sandy - are pretty ferocious and independent by the time they are one year old. But not Sandy! She’s still happy to be handled and loves human interaction. So Aussie Ark staff had tons of fun spoiling her on her big day, including a ‘cake’ of meat, a belly-rub and her favourite game of tug ‘o’ war.
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