Diabolically hard to spot: the Tasmanian devil. Photo / David Clode, Unsplash
A Hobart family were shocked to find an iconic local in their suburban home after mistaking it for a toy.
Late on Wednesday night, resident Kirsten Lynch was alerted by a “strange bark” from her golden retriever puppy. As she went downstairs to investigate, she began to wonder where she got a Tasmanian devil-shaped dog toy.
But it was the real McCoy.
“I went to reach for it, and the devil shot underneath the couch,” she told ABC.
“I got the fright of my life. I woke the whole family up.
“This little Tasmanian devil was hiding underneath my couch.”
Lynch lives in the Hobart suburb of Sandy Bay, which backs on to bushland, and said they had left the door open left open to help toilet-train their pup.
“At one stage, we had the whole family standing on the dining room table while my husband was trying to chase the poor thing out with a broom,” she said.
“It was very cute, but it was very unusual.”
Eventually the visitor found its way back out into the surrounding bushland.
An iconic Australian marsupial, Tasmanian devils are considered endangered, and sightings of them near built-up areas are rare, athough more reports have seemingly emerged during and after the pandemic.
Devils can grow up to 78cm in length and weigh up to 11kg. They are considered the largest living carnivorous marsupial in the world and can deliver the most powerful bite of any mammal in relation to their body mass. Despite this, they’ve not considered a threat to humans.
Local sanctuary Bonorong told the ABC devils can sometimes find their way into people’s homes, attracted by pet food and water bowls. The sanctuary said it received two callouts for Tasmanian devil sightings in built-up areas on Thursday alone.
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