It was recently reported in the Queensland press that statistics from Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, Moggill Koala Hospital and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Hospital reveal 1760 koalas were taken to wildlife hospitals in the southeast corner of Queensland in the 16 months to May (that averages out to a staggering 110 koalas a month!!).
More than one third (683 koalas) had to be euthenased because their
injuries or illnesses were so severe – and a further 433 were dead on arrival.
Before I had my daughter I volunteered at the University of Queensland Vet Science Farm in the Koala Study Project in Brisbane, caring for koalas who had come into long term care because they were blind or suffered amputation injuries from dog attacks or car accidents.
The majority of koala deaths are as a result of development leading to habit destruction, and the resultant increase in potential contact with motor vehicles and domestic pets. As our need for larger and larger building blocks increases the koala habitat is destroyed by the acre.
So is there any future for the koala or will it eventually just be yet another victim of ‘progress’ in Australia … a country that boasts one of the worst record for native mammal extinctions in the world?
When the Queensland Minister for the Environment used National Threatened Species Day to announce the lifting of the ban on lethal methods of control for flying foxes, what hope is there?