Preserving Australia’s Wildlife
Not only are Koalas one of Australia’s most loved and iconic animals, but just look at how cute they are!
Although under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC), since April 2012 our beloved Australian icons have been considered as VULNERABLE to EXTINCTION!
It has been 8 consecutive years since the EPBC Act included this and still, there is an increasing decline of the Koala population.
According to Adam-Hosking in 2016, there was an overall -24 per cent population decline within six generations of Koalas in Australia’s states.
There is an estimation from The Australian Koala Foundation that there are less than 100,000 Koalas left in the wild, with possibly as few as 43,000. (Save the Koalas)
But how is this possible? What is causing this?
- Loss in habitat
- Increased disturbance by humans
- Injury/death from dogs and cats
- Effects of garden pesticides getting into waterways
- Increased competition for food and territory because of overcrowding
- Increased stress on animals, making them more susceptible to diseases
But the cold hard reality is that high death rates within Koalas are due to injury/death from traffic.
According to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, more than 85 per cent of Koalas that are hit by a car, die.
Koalas are nocturnal creatures, so it can be extremely hard to see them on the road when they’re out roaming the streets at night.
So as drivers, it is fundamental to drive slowly whenever you see a Koala crossing sign. (Example below)
One of New South Wales most notorious players when it comes to Koala fatalities is, Appin Road.
Appin Road is a 37-kilometre stretch of road that is a major link road between South Western Sydney at Campbelltown and the coast of Wollongong, via the Appin Township.
It carries up to and over 10,000 vehicles a day with approximately 15 per cent of these being heavy vehicles.
According to Transport NSW, 23 people have died in 22 serious crashes on the arterial road from 2000 to 2015.
Of these crashes, nine were head-on collisions and eight involved a vehicle leaving the roadway and hitting an object, such as a tree. (Mabin, S., (2016), Sydney Morning Herald)
“Appin Road is one of the most unsafe roads in the region,” says Matthew Deeth, Wollondilly’s Mayor.
Appin Road is known as a bushland area, so it comes to no surprise that there are a lot of Australian wildlife which roam around the area.
And with the facts that Appin Road is extremely dangerous, our beloved Australian animals are at risk of death every day.
“There is no wildlife fencing — no underpasses or overpasses on Appin Road so the wildlife can get from point A to B safely,” says Ricardo Lonzer, a local wildlife rescuer.
The death toll of Koalas on Appin Road alone has reached to 22 in just under three years, including nine of those fatalities being in less than three months from March to May 2018.
As our roads are being used by more and more cars on a daily basis, the number of Koala fatalities on Appin Road will continue to increase.
So what can we do to decrease these fatalities?
How can we as a community save our beloved fuzzy Australian animals?
SIGN THE PETITION!
Although created in 2016, our local Macarthur MP Mike Freelander created the petition to ‘Fix Appin Road’.
During the previous election, Australia’s 2015 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull committed $50 million to ‘Fix Appin Road’.
Yet only $5 million was committed in the Federal Government’s 2016–2017 budget.
“Too many lives have been lost and our community cannot wait any longer — our region deserves better,” says Dr Mike Freelander.
There is a urgent need to upgrade Appin Road! This road is a notorious player to the fatalities of many human and animal lives.
So it is fundamental as a community to sign this petition, as it will not only save the lives of our koalas but also the lives of those within our community.
Let your voice be heard! Because it takes one person signing the petition, to allow us to be a step closer to the end goal.
For more information on Koala fatalities and how to prevent them, read:
https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/86416/koalas-and-cars.pdf
For more information on Appin Road and the fatalities which have occurred, read:
References:
Mabin, S., (2016), ‘Appin Road: Is this Sydney’s deadliest road?’, Sydney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/appin-road-is-this-sydneys-deadliest-road-20160202-gmjnut.html#:~:text=Since%20the%20year%202000%2C%20there,road%20from%202000%20to%202015.
McLaren, N., (2018), ‘No help: Healthy koala photographed moments before death on Appin Road’, ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-23/koala-death-on-appin-road-highlights-lack-of-protection/9787470
Save the Koalas, ‘The Koala — Endangered or Not?’, https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/koala-endangered-or-not
