Save The Koala Before It Is Too Late

People visit Australia from near and far just for the opportunity to get up close and personal with a koala, but if something isn’t done to preserve their habitats that may stop.

Today, September 30, is Safe the Koala Day and the Australian Koala Foundation has called for a moratorium on critical koala habitats in NSW, Queensland and the ACT where the furry marsupials are listed as endangered.

Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) Chair, Deborah Tabart OAM said Maquarie was a huge electorate with very few koalas.

“The question is, “Why?”, Ms Tabart said.

“Probably a relic from the fur industry where millions of koalas were shot for the fur trade.

“AKF has the manifests of skins of eight million that were sent to London and New York.

“With Sydney suburbs encroaching from the east and with forest that burnt in 2019, a lot more research needs to be done to identify viable and potentially long-term koala populations in this electorate.”

The AKF has called on the Minister for Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek to use her ministerial powers under the EPBC Act to protect all primary and secondary A habitat throughout the koala’s entire geographic range where she has the power to do so, and to enact the Koala Protection Act.

Ms Tabart has driven thousands of kilometres, mainly through NSW, this year looking at habitats, creeks and rivers that should sustain healthy habitats with healthy koala populations.

“To be frank, it is all tragic,” she said.

“We have had so many people write to AKF this month seeking support to try and stop clearing and often there is nothing to be done, because it has either been approved in the dim dark past or the damage has already been done.”

The AKF has written to Ms Plibersek offering its expertise, scientific and detailed koala habitat mapping, population data and carefully considered solutions to save the koala and its habitat - data they have spent over three decades compiling.

Learn more about the Koala Protection Act and the Australian Koala Foundation at www.savethekoala.com.

• Topics:

• Pets & Wildlife
• Animal Health
• Environmental Issues
• Tourism