CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s government announced koalas would be considered officially endangered in the eastern part of the country, as their numbers continue to fall in the wild.
The marsupial’s conservation status was changed Friday across Australia’s east coast, in Queensland, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory, The Associated Press reported. Koalas had previously been listed as a vulnerable species.
Friday’s announcement came two years after a parliamentary inquiry, “Koala populations and habitat in New South Wales,” warned that the koala would be extinct before 2050. The inquiry blamed the 2019-2020 brushfires, as well as logging in public native forests for creating a threat to koalas’ habitat.
The Australian government also pledged millions of dollars in conservation funding, and is asking states’ approval for a national recovery plan, NPR reported. “Together we can ensure a healthy future for the koala and this decision, along with the total [$53 million U.S.] we have committed to koalas since 2019, will play a key role in that process,” environment minister Sussan Ley said in her announcement, NPR reported.
The recovery plan aims to create laws that will protect both the koalas and their natural habitats, The New York Times reported.
According to the Australian Koala Foundation, the country lost 30% of its remaining koalas in just three years. The koala population in 2021 was estimated to be between 32,065 and 57,920, down from 45,745-82,170 in 2018.
Deborah Tabart, chair of the Australian Koala Foundation, told The New York Times that the change to koalas’ status “doesn’t mean anything.” Tabart told The New York Times that the Australian government “may be offering our koalas a nice new word, but behind all the photo opportunities and political rhetoric they continue to approve the destruction of the koala habitat. If the clearing of the koala habitat continues, a further status change is imminent – from endangered to extinct.”
A status change is just a word. It does nothing legally to stop land clearing, which is the key reason for Koalas becoming homeless and then getting sick with disease 🐨#auspol #koalas #savethekoala
— Save the Koala (AKF) (@savethekoala) February 10, 2022
Many koalas in Australia suffer from chlamydia, and vaccines to prevent and treat it among the animals, as well as drones to study them and restore their habitat are some of the ways the government has pledged to help the animals, The Associated Press reported. The Australian government also said that listing koalas as endangered will highlight and help address threats.
©2022 Cox Media Group
