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Koalas 'Could Face Extinction'
They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to send the numbers of wild koalas plummeting.
(flickr photo by Lauri Väin) The Australian Koala Foundation said a recent survey showed the population could have dropped by more than half in the past six years.
Many have been killed by the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia.
Previous estimates put the number of koalas at more than 100,000 - but the latest calculations suggest there could now be as few as 43,000.
The foundation collected field data from 1,800 sites and 80,000 trees to calculate the numbers.
In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.
The foundation said as well as problems caused by deforestation, hotter, drier conditions attributed to global warming had reduced the nutritional value of their staple food, eucalyptus leaves, leading to malnutrition.
Koalas, which are confined to forests in Australia's east and south, are notoriously fussy about what types of the leaves they eat.
Foundation chief Deborah Tabart said: "The koalas are missing everywhere we look. It's really no tree, no me. If you keep cutting down trees you don't have any koalas."
Death adder
She is hoping the new figures will persuade the government's Threatened Species Steering Committee (TSSC) to list the koala as threatened.
But committee chairman Bob Beeton said a decision was not likely until mid-2010 - and the koala's status as one of the country's favourite animals would not be a factor.
"There's a number of species which are charismatic and emotionally charged. We don't consider that," Mr Beeton was reported as saying by the AFP agency.
"We'd consider the koala with the same level of diligence and dedication as if it were the death adder."
7 Comments so far
Show AllKoala's cute and furry?
Gone, no mas??
Only God And One Other take life in the blink of an eye; we ain't God. Whom do we empower?
Are humans not also facing extinction?
We, koalas and humans, share the same limitation…a reliance upon regularly available and suitable biological material to replenish the daily needs of our living bodies…
if such biological material is no longer available, or is compromised, in whatever way, for whatever reason, then death occurs…quite possibly on a grand scale…billions can die as quickly as one…
what a fascinating study in denial, to monitor the decreasing numbers of many plants and animals while refusing to acknowledge the rightful placing of our own futures alongside theirs…
No problem...we're next.
t_g
Yes, the koalas are dying of chlamidia and the Tasmanian Devils are dying of face tumors. They have even less time left, as they are dying in larger numbers and there is less of them anyway.
But hey, the introduced animals like cats (domestic moggies gone feral), rabbits, foxes, goats and pigs are thriving.
Let's rejoice...
Cheers from Down Under
Given a population of only 40,000 for some species, and a population of 7 billion humans creating the environmental devastation that threatens these species, we have to hold accountable the agents driving ever-higher mass consumption. This means we have to stop feeding those agents, the elites. We have to stop feeding them through our exchange and through our votes. When 130 million USans voted elite candidates in 2008, they voted continuing escalation of media propaganda that is making over-consumption imperative to billions of people worldwide.
When San Franciscans voted Pelosi in for another term, rejecting Sheehan, they voted to continue the barrage of world media marketing campaigns to get more international tourists to fly to San Francisco, which helps keep the property values soaring there, at the expense of 40,000 koalas, and quite a number of other species.
Given a population of only 40,000 for some species, and a population of 7 billion humans creating the environmental devastation that threatens these species, we have to hold accountable the agents driving ever-higher mass consumption. This means we have to stop feeding those agents, the elites. We have to stop feeding them through our exchange and through our votes. When 130 million USans voted elite candidates in 2008, they voted continuing escalation of media propaganda that is making over-consumption imperative to billions of people worldwide.
When San Franciscans voted Pelosi in for another term, rejecting Sheehan, they voted to continue the barrage of world media marketing campaigns to get more international tourists to fly to San Francisco, which helps keep the property values soaring there, at the expense of 40,000 koalas, and quite a number of other species.