Endangered Tasmanian devil named Mary escapes wildlife park

A Tasmanian devil named Mary successfully eluded searchers equipped with a thermal-imaging drone for a third day on Thursday after escaping from an Australian wildlife park.

Keepers discovered the furry, carnivorous marsupial was missing from her enclosure at Paradise Country wildlife park on Queensland's Gold Coast on Tuesday morning.

A dozen wildlife experts backed by a sniffer dog and a thermal-imaging drone operator searched through two nights for the critter, park officials said in a statement.

"Our priority remains on relocating Mary to ensure her welfare, and we will continue to search today and into this evening," it said.

CCTV images released to the public showed Mary running into the distance of the wildlife park's grounds at night, several hours before her disappearance was noticed.

Tasmanian devils — agile, mostly nocturnal animals that can roam for 10 miles in a single night — have been extinct on the Australian mainland for more than 3,000 years.

The marsupials can live up to six years in the wild, with males weighing as much as 30 pounds and standing 1 foot tall at the shoulder, according to Tasmania's environment department. According to the park, they are scavengers that eat dead animals and "can crush bones, fur, and all with super-strong jaws."

Mary is relatively young at 2 years old, however, and "extremely shy," said the wildlife park's curator, Lauren Mousley.

"Generally around this age they can be a little bit more adventurous, but finding that she is the one that headed out is very, very abnormal given her demeanor," she said in a video update after the breakout.

Mousley said the circumstances of the marsupial's escape remain "a bit of a mystery."

"We do think that an abnormally large leap has happened," she said. "And that's how she's breached out of her quarantined area."

Mousley warned the public not to approach the animal if they see her.

"Devils can be reactive if provoked or if anyone attempts to catch them," she said.

When Mary is located, Mousley said, she will get a full medical assessment and then be reunited with her housemate, Mavka.

Though widespread on the island state of Tasmania, the marsupials are listed as endangered and face a significant threat from a rare, transmissible cancer known as devil facial tumor disease.