Taz in Trouble! Icon Devil May Not Make It

With a tornadolike force, Taz, the ornery Tasmanian devil cartoon character, could take down nearly any threat in its path.

In this 2005 file photo, a Tasmanian Devil bares its teeth at a quarantine facility in Hobart,...

In this 2005 file photo, a Tasmanian Devil bares its teeth at a quarantine facility in Hobart, Australia. The devil, a native marsupial unique to Tasmania, was popularized by the Looney Tunes cartoon character Taz, as shown here on the late Dale Earnhardt's race car.

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But in reality, the fierce Aussie animal that inspired the Warner Bros. cartoon is having a devil of a time fighting a cancer that is on the verge of wiping out the entire wild population.

The news is disturbing to many on the Australian island of Tasmania that consider the critters an "icon of the state," not to mention a major tourist draw.

Experts say the rare cancer has killed about 50 percent of the country's devils since 1996.

For the last two years, Australian scientists had hoped that one lone devil they named Cedric held the key to the survival of the species. The 3-year-old male from Tasmania had shown a strong antibody response to the contagious, normally fatal, cancer and scientists thought he might be immune.

But scientists recently learned that Cedric too had contracted the disease, called devil facial tumor disease (DFTD).

Although previous experiments had demonstrated that Cedric's immune system could fight off the cancer, earlier this month, scientists spotted two facial tumors that are characteristic of the highly contagious disease.

"It was quite disheartening," said Greg Woods, associate professor of immunology at the Menzies Research Institute at the University of Tasmania. Woods has worked with Cedric for nearly two years.

Woods said that the tumors were "too small to see" and that he expects Cedric to make a full recovery.

Researchers thought "he may be a ray of hope for the other devils, and that ray of hope dimmed a little bit," Woods told ABCNews.com.

But, thanks to the popular and endearingly manic Tasmanian devil cartoon that has entertained generations of children, the real devils' plight is tugging at the heart strings of many beyond scientific circles.

Spirits Fall as 'Super Devil' Contracts Cancer

Scientists were hopeful about Cedric because the lack of genetic diversity among the devils in northeast Tasmania, where the disease was first identified, makes the animals particularly vulnerable.