Why are state and federal governments driving the koala to extinction?

Australia’s state and federal governments are committing a crime against nature by consistently refusing to listen to a deeply concerned public, the scientific community and conservation organisations, writes Sue Arnold.

Are we dealing with political environmental vandalism?

It’s a question hundreds of thousands of concerned Australians are asking as a community after the community has held demonstrations, written endless emails to government ministers, signed petitions, been arrested and cried as their habitat has been destroyed.

Images of koalas deprived of their habitat, left with stumps and no future should be a strong warning to governments to heed the scale of public protest. Their total lack of concern reveals a collective rejection of Australia’s devastating loss of biodiversity and, in particular, the impending loss of one of this country’s iconic species.

in 1927 US President Hoover was banned Importing koala skins into the US eliminates a major market and saves koalas from extinction caused by the fur trade.

The scale of the massacre was enormous. Reliable data is difficult to find, but researchers estimate that between 450,000 and 500,000 koalas were killed each year between 1903 and 1906. No records exist before the early 1900s. After 1906 the harvest increased to an estimated 450,000 to 1 million hides per season.

By the time the ban was implemented, the koala population had fallen to an estimated one percent of its original size.

Conservation scientists have long argued that koala populations in Australia are still living with the consequences of the commercial fur trade. Millions of koalas were killed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, causing dramatic population declines across much of the species’ range.

Latest genomic studies It shows that modern koalas have significantly lower genetic diversity than historical populations; This suggests that the species never fully recovered from the demographic bottleneck created by the fur trade and subsequent habitat destruction.

An estimated recent 60,000 koalas It was burned in the 2019-2020 Black Summer wildfires. Infrastructure, urbanization, deforestation and fossil fuel projects are destroying koala habitats day by day, week by week; leaving confused, terrified koalas with no hope of survival. These animals, loyal to their habitats and lacking fodder and shelter trees, suffer from diseases caused by stress, hunger and dehydration.

The impacts of climate change on koala habitat are being completely ignored by state and federal governments. International Union for Conservation of Nature In 2009, we identified the koala as one of ten global species vulnerable to climate impacts.

Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels will reduce the nutritional quality of eucalyptus leaves and lead to nutritional deficiencies in the species that feed on them. As a result, Koalas may no longer be able to meet their nutritional needs, leading to malnutrition and starvation.

Koalas have a very limited capacity to adapt to rapid human-induced climate change, making them highly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change.

Koala is the last living representative of the species family Phascolarctidae. Koalas are an umbrella species for coastal forest ecosystems. When habitat is destroyed, a significant number of species that share the same ecosystem also disappear.

diseases very common. koala research It shows that koalas die from anemia, leukemia-lymphoma, and a range of cancers, including bone cancer, metastatic sarcoma, blood cancer and breast cancer. As if the list of cancers wasn’t shocking enough, koalas also suffer from acute respiratory disease, a serious lung condition that leads to impaired lung function, intestinal twisting that can cause loss of appetite, lethargy, abdominal bloating and death.

Other conditions include torsion, which causes an organ or part of the body to bend in on itself, cutting off blood circulation in koalas. Koalas can also suffer from a condition where part of the intestine moves into another section, potentially causing a blockage. This is a surgical emergency.

federal government Koala Disease Risk Assessment The list lists only ten “dangers,” including chlamydia, koala retrovirus, heat stress, predator attack trauma, thermal burn trauma, cryptococcus, motor vehicle trauma, neoplasia (cancer), kidney failure, and sarcoptic mange.

sarcoptic mange caused by a parasitic mite and causing intense itching; skin lesions from scratching, which can lead to secondary bacterial or fungal infections; lesions on the face, jaw, stomach, limbs and paws; thickening of the skin crust; weakening; and death. Mange is highly contagious and a significant threat to koala populations.

chlamydia It is known to cause infertility, wetness, eye disease, blindness and incredible pain. Blind koalas often die of starvation. When the bladder becomes infected, it can become so inflamed and swollen that the koala bleeds constantly.

Koalas near Portland in Victoria, where the giant was found Alcoa smelter emits fluoride, suffers from fluorosis. Fluoride toxicity causes bone calcium to be gradually replaced by minerals. Swellings occur on the outside of koalas’ bones, which put pressure on the nerves and cause extreme pain. Teeth are prone to deterioration badly, hindering koalas’ ability to eat, causing wasting, starvation and death.

Thousands of koalas are killed every year in Victoria due to vehicle collisions. Thousands of people are displaced each year when blue gum plantations are harvested, and koalas cross roads used by logging trucks trying to find habitat. Many koalas’ bones are broken and orphaned babies are left behind. Cows and dogs often attack.

dog attacks It is terrifying and the leading cause of koala deaths. Koalas attacked by dogs suffer intense trauma, shock, blood loss, organ damage, internal bleeding, fractures and bacterial infections. Dog attacks on koalas cause horrific injuries and are responsible for high mortality rates. in NSW, 75 percent of dog attacks It is fatal to koalas.

CSIRO koala monitoring program The national koala population is currently estimated to be between 729,000 and 918,000. A truly dramatic increase from 224,000 – 524,000 compared to the previous year.

In fact, it is biologically impossible. Activists wonder whether exaggerated forecasts should be described as propaganda.

Over the last decade, governments have devoted nearly $1 billion to research; Little funding has been allocated to research on the effects of habitat loss. If these funds had been spent creating koala sanctuaries and protecting core habitats, the result would have been a significant increase in koala survival.

Population estimates in each state are based on many different methodologies, with the most popular used to make the highest estimates.

There is no global scientific evidence to suggest that a species deprived of habitat and legal protection, suffering from diseases and the effects of climate change such as droughts and floods, as well as mass urbanization from deforestation, fossil fuel projects and unprecedented population growth, can thrive.

The suffering of koalas is a national scandal. Australian state and federal governments are committing a crime against nature by consistently refusing to listen to a deeply concerned public, the scientific community and conservation organisations.

When did it become policy to eradicate koalas and why?

Given Australia’s appalling record of mammal loss, ongoing efforts to ensure that biodiversity loss remains tightly censored by governments suggest the urgent need for a Royal Commission to result in decisive action. such as international organizations United Nations Environment Program They need to be informed about Australia’s ongoing crimes.