World Wildlife Fund calls for
public pressure on the Palaszczuk government to reduce habitat destruction
Joshua Robertson
Thursday 18 May 2017
10.52 BST
Tree clearing may have killed as
many as 180 koalas in south-east Queensland in the
two years after the former state government relaxed vegetation protection laws,
according to an analysis by the World Wildlife Fund.
The environmental group says a
crisis gripping koala populations has its root in a surge in tree clearing
given the political green light in both Queensland and New South
Wales.
The koala deaths in south-east
Queensland, compounding a trend that has wiped out half the koala population
statewide in the last two decades, came from the bulldozing of 44 sq km of
bushland between mid-2013 and mid-2015, WWF scientist Martin Taylor argues.
The wave of deaths pushed the
iconic animal further towards local extinctions in former strongholds,
particularly to Brisbane’s north.
They were followed by an ongoing
surge in fatal
koala injuries from vehicles and dog attacks that has the RSPCA
fearing for their long-term survival in the region.
In NSW, there are also fears of
local koala populations being wiped out after total numbers fell by an
estimated 26% in the past two decades, according to a separate WWF report by
University of Queensland academic Christine Adams-Hosking.
The report declared tree
clearing, also relaxed
by the NSW state government in late 2016, a major factor.
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