Koalas Are Going To Be Extinct
It has finally happened. Australia’s globally famous animal is officially listed endangered.
In February 2022, Government officials of Australia declared Koalas as endangered species. Over the past two decades, koala populations in parts of Australia have declined by as much as 80 per cent. Less than 50,000 of these animals are left in this world.
“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.” — Susan Ley, Environment Minister of Australia.
This move comes after a decade when populations of Koalas were already listed as ‘vulnerable’.
How did we arrive at this situation?
In April 2012, Koalas were listed as vulnerable in different parts of Australia under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which did nothing. At that time, Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) research suggested that koalas should be listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ as they estimated there were less than 100,000 Koalas left even as few as 43,000.
At that time Koalas were in serious decline due to commercialisation, bushfires, domestic dog attacks and road accidents. There were four states in Australia where koalas occurred in wild — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The state of Victoria didn’t even list them as threatened species while the first two listed them as vulnerable and the last one listed them as rare.
Since then many conservation groups came together to help and stop the decline in the population of these adorable creatures.
Reasons for Population decline
Many factors affect the Koalas, Loss of Habitat, the spread of infections, bush fires, accidents, and attacks by domestic dogs. Since these species were listed as vulnerable in 2012 federal government alone have approved 25,000 hectares of clearing of koala habitat. Koalas rely on the Eucalyptus tree for their food and habitat. Australia’s Timber industry is one of the main reasons affecting Koalas.
Every day tree harvesters cut down thousands of eucalyptus trees, forcing koalas to live in eucalyptus plantations. Since these animals are slow and cannot escape approaching harvesters, they hold on to the trees until their painful death. Some loggers told the journalists that these animals are seriously injured during the cutting and are left to die with broken limbs, broken backs, dead mothers with their babies and this happens at an astonishing rate, sometimes 2 koalas per hour. It’s just heartbreaking.
While the government was working on this situation a deadly disease was spreading among Koalas, Chlamydia. Yes, you read it right chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease was spreading among these animals. We often joke about chlamydia as it is treatable for us humans but this disease affected koalas in epidemic proportions and still is. This lead to blindness, severe bladder inflammation, infertility and death. Adult koalas caught chlamydia just like humans through sexual transmission but young koalas also got infected by eating pap, a nutritious type of faeces, which was excreted by infected mother koalas.
Surveys of records from treatment facilities found that chlamydia was the most lethal of all diseases affecting the animals, second only to injury from cars as the most frequent cause of koala death.
While the clues for the treatment were being found, 2020 entered. And we all know how bad it was for us but it was a disaster for Australian wildlife. The Australian Wildfire of 2020.
About 3 Billion animals were hit by the wildfire. The bushfires that swept across Southeastern Australia destroyed more than 24 million hectares of land. That overall estimate in the final report was released in which it showed that about 143 million mammals, 2.46 billion reptiles, 181 million birds, and 51 million frogs in areas that were hit by the fires.
More than 60,000 koalas were among the animals badly affected by the bushfire crisis. It is estimated that 41,000 Koalas were killed or severely injured by the ferocious fires.
The wildfire disrupted everything for the wildlife of Australia which severely impacted the global ecosystem.
What will happen to the ecosystem?
Koalas have a huge role in the ecosystem. They consume the excess vegetation in the eucalyptus forests where they live, therefore, reducing the biomass that fuels frequent and intense fires during the dry season. During the rainy season, koala droppings act as nutrients for undergrowth regeneration and serve as food for insects and small rodents. As the koalas feed, they break branches and drop leaves, making them available to ground insects. Koalas are also an important part of the food chain are serve as prey for large carnivores in the ecosystem. Protecting koalas is equivalent to conserving the forests inhabited by them that act as a carbon sink.
It just breaks my heart while writing this knowing the fact that we are extracting and destroying the resources ignoring the fact that other forms of life depend on it. According to many experts and conservation groups, Koalas are practically extinct means we are past the point of no return. Government officials all around the world still think of Environmental conservation and climate change as 2nd or 3rd tier problems.
Koalas are one of the most adorable animals I’ve ever seen and seeing them suffer like this tells a lot about us, humans. Not only koalas but there are thousands of species suffering daily and fighting for their lives while being on the verge of extinction. Time has come to compromise our needs and save and help the other species from plants to animals. And if it can’t be done for the koala, then what hope is there for the almost 2,000 other species and habitats on the threatened list?
I don’t want to write such depressing blogs but the situation needs to be addressed and we have to think and take critical measures about it. Peace.
References -:
https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/the-koala-endangered-or-not/
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