Koalas are the biggest victims of the Australian fires of recent months. So much so that some scientific societies already speak that these animals would be practically extinct on this island continent.
One example is the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), which believes that there are currently no more than 80,000 koalas left in Australia, making them “virtually or functionally extinct”. In the worst case, there could be even fewer koalas left than estimated, and the number could drop to as low as 43,000.
On the other hand, other information sources are not so alarmist. According to the Red List of the international union for the conservation of nature, there would still be 300,000 specimens of koalas.
Currently, the koala is listed as a “vulnerable” species, the lowest of all threat categories . However, based on their extensive research over the years, the AKF suggests that the koala’s conservation status should be upgraded to “critically dangerous.” AKF has been monitoring 128 federal electorates that are within koala range since 2009. A decade later, 41 of them show no signs of koalas.
In April 2012, the Australian government declared the koala a “vulnerable species” in New South Wales, the Law and Queensland. Victoria and South Australia were excluded from the list. Instead, the AKF believes that the koala should have been listed in every state. In the opinion of the AKF, there is no legislation that effectively and consistently protects the habitat of koalas: “It is not necessarily due to the legislation that does not exist, but rather because there is not always the political will to implement, monitor and enforce such legislation ”.
Since koalas are not being kept in zoos or natural sanctuaries, the responsibility for their conservation rests with the government, as well as their habitat.
Koalas are in serious decline and suffer the effects of habitat destruction, domestic dog attacks, traffic accidents, and forest fires, exacerbated by climate change. Official figures speak that 30% of the koala population have died since the fires began , which have plagued Australia since September 2019.
Image: Getty.
Introducing koalas to other ecosystems is a bad idea
How could we save the remaining koalas in Australia ? There is a citizen proposal to try to get koalas to be introduced in New Zealand, a place where they could thrive, and where there are thirty thousand hectares of eucalyptus.
But, at the moment, the Government is not in the task of carrying out this initiative, but has stated that it will try to control the fires so that the koalas can remain in their natural habitat.
Although, at first glance, the idea of introducing koalas to another habitat sounds good, there are many elements to consider when introducing a new species to another ecosystem.
In the opinion of Luis Javier Palomo Muñoz, Professor of Animal Biology at the University of Malaga and member of the Spanish Society for the Conservation and Study of Mammals (SECEM), it is a totally inadvisable initiative : “There is no (nor has there been never) koalas in New Zealand, so it would be a totally inappropriate performance. It would be a totally strange species in that habitat, an invasive and out of place species , which could cause serious problems for the indigenous fauna of New Zealand. There are no native mammals on these islands (except bats) and there are clear examples of the disaster that has led to the introduction of Australian species on these islands. “
The alternative, continues L. Javier, is to reinforce the existing populations, in the areas where there are currently koalas or in which there were in recent times, and to restore the habitats burned by the fires, although that is a very complicated and expensive task: “The best thing would be to keep the specimens that can be rescued from the most affected areas in recovery centers where they can be kept and raised in captivity until they can be reintroduced back to their original areas.”
In general, introducing exotic species goes against the conservation of local biodiversity. For this reason, the professor of Life Sciences at the University of Alcalá de Henares, José María Rey Benayas, believes that this type of action should only be used in very extreme cases.
In addition, New Zealand is a leading country in the eradication of exotic species that currently has a very ambitious eradication program: “For this reason, the initiative to introduce the koala collides head-on with these objectives,” explains Rey Benayas.
