Overview
- Security footage showed two‑year‑old Mary sprinting away from her quarantine enclosure shortly after 4am and staff discovered she was missing during routine checks on Tuesday.
- Paradise Country launched an immediate search that has grown into a multi‑agency operation with Village Roadshow drone teams, Queensland Police, Wildcare volunteers, sniffer dogs and nearby zoo experts.
- On Thursday search crews concentrated on bushland near Kopps Rd after several credible public sightings, set food traps and continued night searches while the park reopened to visitors.
- Experts say Tasmanian devils are nocturnal, adaptable and readily drawn to baited traps, so teams expect Mary is likely to be local and could be captured if still in the area.
- The case highlights mainland biosecurity risks for an endangered species that is extinct on the Australian mainland, has fewer than about 25,000 wild individuals in Tasmania, and will likely prompt a review of quarantine procedures.