wild tasmanian devil populations are being monitored to track the spread of the disease and to identify changes in disease prevalence. field monitoring involves trapping devils within a defined area to check for the presence of the disease and determine the number of affected animals. the same area is visited repeatedly to characterise the spread of the disease over time. so far, it has been established that the short-term effects of the disease in an area can be severe. long-term monitoring at replicated sites will be essential to assess whether these effects remain, or whether populations can recover. field workers are also testing the effectiveness of disease suppression by trapping and removing diseased devils, with the expectation that removal of diseased devils from wild populations would decrease disease prevalence, allowing devils to survive beyond juvenile years and so to breed. one study reported that a system of culling prior to 2010 did not impede disease spread.