Miranda Gibson, Tasmania’s long-time treesitter in The Observer Tree has today released footage of a baby devil in the threatened forest that Gibson is living in.

New footage captured in the forest surrounding The Observer Tree shows a healthy juvenile Tasmanian devil.  Still Wild Still Threatened conservationists have been monitoring this area of forest for the past six months and in December 2011 captured footage of a devil believed to be taking food back to young in the den. The new footage reveals a young devil that is of right age to be the offspring.

Still Wild Still Threatened spokesperson Miranda Gibson has been at the top of a tree watching over this area of threatened forest for the past four months.

“It is a significant find to see young healthy devils in this forest, adding to the already clear evidence that these areas need protection. Tragically we are losing this species to a rapacious disease (DFTD) yet everyday habitat and maternal dens are being destroyed by ongoing logging ” said Ms Gibson.

“It is not clear what happens to mothers and their young devils when maternal dens are destroyed by logging and heavy machinery. If logging had proceeded in this area, this young devil may have been trapped and died in it’s den. The habitat of the young dispersing devil is still under threat from logging, despite the area being verified as having world heritage values by the Government’s commissioned independent report by Jonathon West.” said Ms Gibson.

“The Jonathon West report showed that more than half of the proposed forest reserves are high priority for the protection of Tasmanian devils. Immediate and full legislated protection is required for these world heritage value forests and to ensure the protection of den sites which are passed on between generations of Tasmanian devils ” said Ms Gibson.

Still Wild Still Threatened releases this footage today coinciding with an International Day of Action for Occupy the Trees. An alliance of forest groups including Still Wild Still Threatened, Huon Valley Environment Centre and Code Green will join forest advocacy groups in the USA and conduct a calendar of events this week to highlight the destruction of wild places around the world and the irreversible impacts of climate change.