The vulnerable listing is the second lowest category for protection, but it requires the federal government to develop a recovery plan for the devil.
The chief executive of RSPCA Tasmania Dr Rick Butler says the listing will help scientific research into the facial tumor disease that is affecting the animals.
�What's really important in Tasmania is that the devil occupies a particular environemntal niche. If the animal isn't there, in that particular area, then that niche in Tasmania will be filled very likely by the feral cat, and the feral cat is real problem in Tasmania and I think that that is a significant risk to Tasmania's wildlife,� Dr Butler said.