Koalas ‘Functionally Extinct’ After Australia Bushfires Destroy 80% Of Their Habitat
An injured koala receives treatment after its rescue from a bushfire at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on November 19, 2019 in Port Macquarie, Australia.
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As Australia experiences record-breaking drought and bushfires, koala populations have dwindled along with their habitat, leaving them “functionally extinct.”
The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart, estimates that over 1,000 koalas have been killed from the fires and that 80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed.
Recent bushfires, along with prolonged drought and deforestation has led to koalas becoming “ functionally extinct ” according to experts.
Functional extinction is when a population becomes so limited that they no longer play a significant role in their ecosystem and the population becomes no longer viable. While some individuals could produce, the limited number of koalas makes the long-term viability of the species unlikely and highly susceptible to disease.
Many are urging the Australian government to enact the Koala Protection Act, written in 2016 but never passed into law and molded after the Bald Eagle Protection Act in the U.S. The Koala Protection Act would work to protect habitats and trees vital to koalas as well as protect koalas from hunting.
Recent viral videos of Australians rescuing koalas has led to increased donation to support hospitalization and help for burned koalas.
The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital setup a Go Fund Me page seeking donations to help the hospital treat injured koalas. To date, they have raised $1.33 million, well over their $25,000 goal. This comes from over 30,000 donors.
Part of their effort is to install drinking stations for koalas in areas devastated by the fires. The funds will also be used for a “Koala Ark” as a refuge for burned koalas to live in a healthy habitat during rehabilitation.
I hope they can get these little guys back in business. A world without koala bears? Unthinkable.
A/noon John. Just came in from watering the garden and what did I hear..One Koala sitting in the gumtree out the front grunting and snorting away. Some areas of NSW the Koala population has been decimated with the bushfires. Where as down here in Victoria, we have an over population that they are killing the gumtrees as the leaves cannot regenerate fast enough. Koalas are very territorial and relocating them can be extremely difficult. But many organisations and people quietly go about protecting and watching over them as we do around here. Our Great Southern Land with her flooding rains and massive bushfires go hand in hand...Many fires have been deliberately lit by kids, some as young as 10 have been caught...Words fail me!!!...The human and animal suffering, is beyond comprehension and so bloody heart breaking...
It sounds horrible Shona.
Hi Shona,
Your description of what is going on there IS heartbreaking. Koalas are one of nature's gifts much like the panda. I hope that they can come back from this dire situation.
Evening Perrie..Koalas are all over the country not just in NSW..Some areas have been severely hit and others have survived and flourishing still. Bushfires are very fickle will burn out one area and leave another completely untouched. This has been going on for thousands of years...Go back to these areas in 10 years time and all traces of fire will be gone..The gumtrees will start sprouting in a few weeks, tiny patches of green against the blackened tree trunks and earth..New life once again sprouting amongst the devastation... All you can do is hang on and survive and that applies to human and animal...As always both will be helped by their fellow Aussies..Mother Nature has already started the process dropping pods from the gumtrees that takes a bushfire for them to germinate. Once the regrowth starts small animals return. As the bushland takes hold the larger animals move back in including Koalas...It is truly an incredible sight to see evolving over the months and years. The current situation is grim and horrendous, the pain and suffering is so distressing and raw...But given time, it will evolve and Mother Nature will take hold and show us her best once again.
Thanks for the information, Shona. It still sounds very upsetting but understanding that gumtrees are much like our pine trees, that need a burn to get new growth, gives me some hope. Thank you for your very vivid description.
Shona1 - beautiful recap. I worked with DoD and managed a Wildland Fire Crew whose primary job was to conduct controlled burns. I'd have our biologist go to the projected area of the burns and determine if the forage/brush was dense enough for our burns. We'd try to space them at 3 years.
During the burns, they were always in areas where the reforestation was necessary for regrowth and that the propagation of the potential burn would unleash the pods from the trees and the necessary brushes to gain a foothold in the new regrowth area.
One of our primary target areas was the old growth - the larger, older longleaf pines. The reason was we had a thriving population of red cockaded woodpeckers, a very critical species in the SE. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is a habitat specialist of the Southeast’s once-vast longleaf pine stands. Its habitat—old pines with very little understory—was shaped by the region’s frequent lightning fires. They also occur in stands of loblolly, slash, and other pine species. The birds dig cavities in living pines softened by heartwood rot. They live in family groups that work together to dig cavities and raise young.
The species declined drastically as its original habitat was cut down, and the species was listed as Endangered in 1970. We even had to go to court against a few large lumber companies whose properties abutted ours, to stop them from their "slash'n'burn", mass logging efforts - but it was working when I got transferred out here in the SW.
Thanks for the info - brings back great memories of burning smoke, fire trails, intense heat, getting the squat scared outta ya when a black bear or large buck would come running atcha just to get to a safer habitat.
A/noon...This is just in:
The bigger picture. Floods, drought and fires. The world of the never Trumpers will pay the price.
Asinine that private citizens are required to do the right thing while governments will not, can not or don't care.
Will, "Drill baby drill," be our destiny?
Are you really serious????? WTF has Trump got to do with Australia?
Governments are now at fault for not allowing Mother Nature do what she has done for 4.5B years?
Yes I am serious.
Read post 1.1 from Shona1. Tell us again how Trump is responsible for what is occurring.
TDDS in the extreme.
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This is really a sad situation. First off the failure to pass the Koala Protection Act is right on the heads of the politicians.
My kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids have been fighting to get the law passed and are always bringing to anyone who'll listen the plight of the Koalas. (they are Australian citizens)
The Koala is the unofficial symbol of Australia and it is recognized worldwide.
What is the objection to protecting the koalas? I imagine money must be involved in there somewhere.
The big stumbling block is Australia industry who has fought against becoming law. Always follow the money. Not much different in Australia than in the US.
When I think of Australia, the Kangaroo enters my mind.
The kangaroo is the official animal of Australia and the Emu is the official bird.
A/noon Kavika...And we have got plenty of them around here to. Actually I think we are the only country that actually eats its Coat of Arms..not tried either and don't plan to...
LOL, can't argue that Shona...I've had roo a number of times, it tastes like chicken...
Hmm everything tastes like chook here, including croc and snake...pass on them to...
I once had Ostrich steak here in China - and It DOES taste like chicken. Actually it was pretty good.
Ostrich and Emu breeding was basically a 1990s midwestern small farmer pyramid scheme perpetrated upon thousands of fools who believed in another get rich quick scheme. It ended in an ostrich apocalypse. An emu armageddon. It turned out that ostriches and emus were a hella lot more expensive to feed and to care for than chickens and turkeys. Also, they are huge and mean as hell...
They were never able to develop a mass market for the meat especially at a huge premium over poultry and pork. Emu Oil is basically Snake Oil. There is a market for skins though...
Kobe steak is extremely expensive, yet there is still a market for it.
There needs to be an immediate breeding/repopulation program somewhere to increase the dwindling numbers.
But keep in mind that without Eucalyptus leaves they will starve to death. There is so much bamboo in China that at least the Panda bears will not starve.
We have lots of them here. We could supply a lot of food for these beautiful animals.
I would hope that nations around the world would do just that.
You must be in Cali - when I was stationed out there, we would conduct controlled burns and, man, those damn eucalyptus trees would put out some rancid black smoke.
Koala Bear population needs to be increased and human overpopulation needs to be recognized as the big problem it is
The best and most honest comment of 2019.
Thank You