Tasmanian devils: Disease-free animals transported back to wild

A group of Tasmanian Devils are being reintroduced to their natural habitat in Tasmania, as part of a plan designed to save the carnivorous marsupials from a cancer threatening them with extinction.

Devil Facial Tumour Disease has caused the population to plummet to around 10,000 from an estimated 250,000 before 1996, when the disease was discovered.

A group of 22 of the creatures were flown from Devil Ark, a disease-free captive breeding facility at Barrington Tops, near Sydney, to Tasmania

Devil Ark project manager Mike Drinkwater explains how the disease has spread.