The world's leading experts on the Tasmanian Devil will meet this month to share their knowledge in the race to save Australia's largest marsupial carnivore from extinction.

Without intervention, the extinction of the Devil is a very real possibility. In May, the Tasmanian Department for Primary Industries and Water announced that Devil Facial Tumour Disease is now found across 60 per cent of Tasmania. The spread of the disease is progressing faster than originally anticipated and, alarmingly, scientists predict this iconic species will be extinct in the wild in the next 25-30 years.

The Tasmanian Devil Insurance Program is co-managed by the Tasmanian Department for Primary Industries and Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA) and this year's workshop, the second of its type, is being hosted by Healesville Sanctuary.

With the support of the recent generous grant from the Yulgibar Foundation, Healesville Sanctuary is currently building 28 new breeding enclosures to be ready next month.

"This breeding program is one of the most significant of its type in Australia and has enormous international concern and support, " Mr Gibbons said. "Healesville Sanctuary is one of the largest players in the Devils' playground and we look forward to discussing all aspects of the Devil program from diet, pouch management and hormone analysis to reproductive methodology and husbandry techniques. This workshop comes at a critical stage of the overall conservation and research program."

Healesville Sanctuary is currently managing threatened species programs for Tasmanian Devils, Brush Tailed Rock Wallabies, Mountain Pygmy-possums, Orange Bellied Parrots, Spotted Tree Frogs, Corroboree Frogs and Helmeted Honeyeaters.