Tasmania's Tasmanian devil had been listed as endangered on the United Nation's Red List in 2008.

Australia has now moved its status from vulnerable to endangered, bringing extra protections.

It is estimated that between 20,000 and 75,000 remain in the wild since the devil facial tumor disease ravaged the wild population that is confined to the island state of Tasmania.

The disease slowly kills affected animals with facial tumors the size of small golf balls.

Devil facial tumour disease is one of only two known clonally transmissible cancers and appears to have originated from a genetic change of mutation in a single individual. It is spread through biting, without any evidence of recovery or resistance to the disease.