KEY POINTS:
Establishing colonies of Tasmanian devils on offshore islands may be the only way of saving the iconic species from extinction as a result of a horrifically disfiguring facial cancer.
The last-ditch option was discussed yesterday at the start of a three-day forum into ways of tackling the disease.
More than 80 Australian and overseas experts came together at the meeting in Hobart, Tasmania, to develop a disease management strategy - the largest summit since the virus was discovered in 1996.
The legendary ferocity of Tasmanian devils inspired the Warner Bros Looney Tunes cartoon character, Taz.
They are at risk of extinction because the facial tumours grow to such an extent that they are prevented from eating and ultimately starve to death.
Scientists are baffled as to where the cancer originated but say it is spread by the animals' tendency to bite and scratch during boisterous mating.
"At the moment the only short- to medium-term strategy we have to maintain disease-free populations in the wild is to put them on offshore islands," said Hamish McCallum, a wildlife biologist at the University of Tasmania.
One possible relocation site is Maria Island, a former convict settlement off Tasmania's east coast.
Up to 80 per cent of devils are infected with the cancer in eastern parts of Tasmania, with the disease expected to spread to the densely forested west of the state in two to three years.
Small numbers of healthy devils have already been moved to zoos on the Australian mainland but larger populations could be established on suitable islands.
"As the disease continues to spread, the window of opportunity to do this will soon close," said Professor McCallum.
Like koalas and kangaroos, Tasmanian devils are marsupials, but they are carnivorous. They are found only in Tasmania.
They earned their name from early British settlers because of their black fur, spine-chilling screeches and steel-trap jaws.
Scientists fear the rapid spread of the facial tumour disease could lead to the extinction of the species within a decade. It is estimated that an original population of 150,000 has been halved.
Warner Brothers has allowed the Tasmanian government to sell "Taz" toys to help raise funds for research to save the animal.
But Australians fear the devil could go the same way as the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, which was remorselessly hunted until it became extinct in the 1930s.
The devil you know
* Tasmanian devils are the size of a small, powerfully built dog.
* Their heads and necks can account for as much as 40 per cent of their overall body weight.
* Portrayed in Warner Brothers cartoons as half-crazed killers, devils are in fact shy nocturnal animals.
* Found only in Tasmania, they are the world's largest carnivorous marsupial.
* British colonial settlers called them "native devils" because of the fearsome noises they made at night while mating and fighting.
* Australia's only specialised mammalian scavenger, they fulfil a similar niche to hyenas or wolverines.
