A Tasmanian devil named Mary has gone missing after a daring early morning escape from a Gold Coast wildlife park, with her getaway captured on CCTV cameras.
The two-year-old marsupial performed what staff at Paradise Country theme park are calling a 'Houdini' act, slipping out of her quarantine enclosure in the early hours of Tuesday.
Security footage shows Mary skulking around the deserted grounds at 4am before scampering out of frame. As of Wednesday afternoon, despite a dozen wildlife team members and a drone operator with thermal imaging searching the area, she remains at large.
How Did Mary Escape?
Paradise Country curator of animals, Lauren Mousley, says the escape remains 'a bit of a mystery'. 'At the moment, we do think that an abnormally large leap has happened – and that is how she has breached out of her quarantine area,' she said in a video interview released by Village Roadshow, which operates several Gold Coast theme parks.
Mousley said staff were shocked not only that an animal had escaped but that it was Mary, who had recently arrived from a zoological facility in New South Wales along with her companion Mavka. 'Mary is two, an age at which devils can be a little bit more adventurous,' Mousley explained. 'But we've only known her a short period of time – and what we do know about her is that she is extremely shy and, when there is movement, she tends to bunker down. So finding that she was the one that headed out is very, very abnormal, given her demeanour.'
Public Warned Not to Approach
Mousley warned the public against approaching Mary if they spot her. 'We have conducted a full perimeter search of Paradise Country – but if people do locate her outside the perimeter, they are encouraged to call Wildcare on their hotline number [07 5527 2444],' she said. 'Do not approach the animal. Devils can be reactive if they are provoked or if anyone attempts to catch them. So please call Wildcare.'
Emeritus Professor Hamish McCallum, a Tasmanian devil facial tumour expert, noted that devils are not only scavengers but also active hunters, posing a risk to local wildlife. 'If I were a brush tailed possum … I'd be a bit nervous,' he said. Stray cats and foxes may also be at risk, which is precisely why some conservationists have proposed reintroducing devils to mainland Australia, where they lived until 500 to 5,000 years ago. Rewilding could help suppress invasive predators that have decimated native mammals, birds, and reptiles.
However, McCallum stressed that such reintroductions should be done carefully, in isolated areas like Wilsons Promontory national park, not in south-east Queensland. 'One random sub-adult female getting out is not the way you'd do it,' he said.
McCallum is more worried about Mary's safety, fearing she could become road kill or be attacked by dogs. He remains hopeful she will be found, as a hungry devil is easily trapped. 'It is certainly possible she could survive in a patch of bush – but the mammal density in south-east Queensland bush would be much lower than in Tasmania, and she would be likely to get hungry,' he said.
