Photos expose fresh blow after 1,061 koalas shot in national park: 'Sad truth'
There are calls for an independent iquiry into the welfare of koalas living in plantations across Victoria's southwest. Source: Jessica Robertson
Preparations are underway to reopen an Australian national park where more than 1,000 koalas were 'euthanised' after a bushfire swept through in early March, causing injuries and food shortages.
After Yahoo News revealed koalas were being shot from helicopters, the story was reported around the world, including the US, UK, India, Japan, South Korea and across Europe. But local animal advocates have now revealed populations of these iconic marsupials living across the surrounding region face an even bigger problem than fire.
Koala Alliance president Jessica Robertson visited Victoria's southwest on the weekend, surveying the perimeter of World Heritage-listed Budj Bim where the 'cull' occurred.
Her most immediate concern is that private blue gum plantations continue to be harvested in the surrounding area, further impacting food availability. 'If DEECA (Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action) is worried about koala welfare, they would stop the harvesting until a better solution can be found," she said. "We can't go on with business as usual, because it's creating endless suffering.'
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Over 40,000 koalas are estimated to live in blue gum plantations around Victoria, and these feed trees cover over 100,000 hectares in the southwest. Photos taken by Robertson highlight how the marsupials are regularly left homeless after their habitat trees are felled. They're then forced to relocate to protected areas like Budj Bim where they are already overpopulated.
Related: Fear for joeys as Australia guns down koalas
While there are management plans that govern koala welfare as plantations are harvested, critics say they need to be reviewed. Source: Jessica Robertson
'Sad truth' behind koala deaths
Robertson's grassroots advocacy group, along with International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Humane World for Animals, the Greens and the Animal Justice Party, are calling for an independent investigation into long-running concerns about koala management across the southwest.
"The sad truth behind these shocking headlines... is the ongoing chronic animal welfare crisis facing koalas in southwest Victoria that has been unfolding for decades. The root cause being rampant habitat loss and the relentless expansion of the blue gum plantation industry. With their natural habitat diminished, koalas are left with nowhere safe to go," IFAW said last week, before launching a petition for an inquiry to address "Victoria's shameful secret".
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"We are strongly supportive of calls for an independent review of management plans designed to protect koalas in private timber plantations," HWFA added.
Koalas have regularly become overabundant in Budj Bim, resulting in the need for regular health assessments and euthanasia. In 2022, a DEECA-led team performed two medical assessment operations inside the park. During the first, 93 were examined, 28 euthanised, and 53 were given fertility control. The second resulted in 30 of 135 being declared unviable due to welfare concerns.
A participant in the health-check program, who spoke to Yahoo on the condition of anonymity, said koala populations regularly boom inside the park after trees across surrounding plantations are cleared. Only small clusters of trees are left for the koalas, forcing them to flee once the leaves run out.
DEECA has conceded that "overpopulation in Budj Bim is an ongoing management issue", and there were between 1 and 1.5 koalas per hectare in the fire zone.
How many koalas were shot after the fire?
On Wednesday, DEECA confirmed with Yahoo only one animal was rescued and taken into care, while 1,061 were euthanised.
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'Since early March, 2,219 koalas have been assessed by both ground and aerial teams, with 48 per cent identified as suffering severe injuries and burns from the bushfire and required humane euthanasia to relieve unnecessary suffering,' it said in a statement.
When koala feed trees at private plantations are harvested, the koalas are forced to relocate to Budj Bim, worsening population issues. Source: Jessica Robertson
Why are 21,000 people calling for transparency?
Environment minister Steve Dimopoulos is yet to directly address Yahoo's questions about the welfare of koalas in the southwest, or the euthanasia program at Budj Bim. The only planned response Yahoo is aware of is a standard post-incident review by DEECA that will assess the successes and failings of the euthanasia program.
But for many animal lovers, this internal review is simply not enough. Over 1,600 people are calling for an independent inquiry, and more than 21,000 people have signed a Change.org petition.
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'Without warning, and without public consultation [DEECA] has authorised the aerial and ground-based shooting of koalas, claiming the animals were suffering due to lack of food after recent bushfires. Yet this brutal decision was made behind closed doors — and we, the public, were never supposed to find out,' the latter petition states.
This week, the Liberal Party renewed calls for the government to publicly release all documents that led to its aerial shooting response.
What's the future for the surviving koalas?
DEECA's chief biodiversity officer James Todd described the response to the Budj Bim fire as long, emotional and difficult'. He said the decision to proceed with euthanasia wasn't taken lightly, and only went ahead after approval from wildlife experts and vets.
'It was clear from early on that most fire-impacted koalas were in areas simply unsafe and virtually impossible for ground crews to access in a timely manner, which is why we took the decision to conduct aerial assessments and shooting where deemed necessary to remove koala pain and suffering,' he said.
DEECA has since reassessed the health of koalas at Budj Bim, and found the 'overall state' of populations in the fire-impacted area had 'significantly improved'.
To help support the remaining koalas, the agency is undertaking a program of invasive predator control. And the state government confirmed with Yahoo it will provide $1 million through its BushBank program to revegetate areas of private land adjacent to Budj Bim to provide koalas with additional habitat.
But despite these programs and the massive loss of koala life, DEECA appears to expect ongoing health issues will continue at Budj Bim into the future.
'Ground crews will continue to do monitoring for some time, and longer-term, land managers will continue to do important health checks to support a sustainable population in the park,' Todd said.
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