Koalas face extinction in east Australia

Koalas could be wiped out along Australia’s eastern seaboard within 12 years because of urban and agricultural sprawl, an international conservation group warned today.

The Australian Koala Foundation plans to present evidence next month to the federal government showing the iconic marsupial should be listed as a vulnerable species in order to have its habitat protected, Executive Director Deborah Tabart said.

“We believe we have unprecedented data, and I don’t believe any scientific committee will have ever seen anything like it,” she said

The Great Dividing Range, which separates the eastern coast of Australia from the rest of the country, has been the traditional habitat for most of Australia’s koalas, but it is now threatened by urban and agricultural sprawl.

The foundation has studied 1,000 koala habitats east of the Great Dividing Range, where eucalyptus forests are endangered by the expansion of human activity.

“We can show that if everything stays the same as it is now, the extinction will occur within 12 years,” Tabart said.

“East of the Great Divide, it will be very difficult to keep koalas protected unless major changes occur in how we use our land.”

The foundation estimates 10 million koalas existed in Australia at the time of European settlement in 1788, but only 100,000 koalas remain now.

Millions were shot for their fur before they were protected by federal law in 1936. But their forest habitats – koalas only eat the leaves of certain eucalyptus trees – have not been protected from clearing.

Like kangaroos, koalas give birth to only one offspring at a time and keep it in a pouch.

The furry marsupials spend most of the day sleeping in the forks of trees and wander at night – a time they are most vulnerable to attacks by domestic dogs, or being hit by cars.