British researchers have found in a new study that culling Tasmanian Devils will not stop the spread of the Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) affecting the animals.

The study published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology was based on the failure of the 2004-2010 culling trials of devils on Tasmania's Forestier Peninsula in stopping the spread of DFTD.

Lead researchers Nick Beeton of the University of Tasmania and Professor Hamish McCallum of Griffith University claimed that a large number of Tasmanian Devils will have to be culled to control the disease making the method unfeasible for such type of wild animals.

"Disease suppression can only work if you can catch enough of the infected animals in the population to make sure the disease won't bounce back. Our models show that even for a trappable animal like the Tasmanian devil, catching enough of them to eradicate disease is a tall order," Beeton said, according to Science Daily.

The Save the Tasmanian Devil Program believes in Beeton and McCallum. The Australian and Tasmanian government initiative now wants culling to stop and instead adopt a new method to control DFTD.

Prof. McCallum said developing a vaccine against DFTD may be a better strategy than setting up insurance populations or finding genetic resistance to the cancer.

In 1996, DFTD was detected in devils in Mount William in northeastern Tasmania. The disease has since led to the decline of the devils' population in Tasmania by 60 percent.

DFTD is threatening to wipe out the population of Tasmanian Devils in the next 25 years unless it is controlled.