Conservationists are again pushing for Australia’s iconic koalas to be listed as endangered by the country’s government, as new and controversial estimates of their numbers prompt renewed fears over the cuddly critters’ future.
Concerned that the government will not list the koala, the Australian Koala Foundation has launched a media blitz, warming of a drastic decline in the animal’s numbers.
“There could be as few as 43,000 and no more than 80,000 koalas left on the mainland of Australia. We know this because we have the science, and the koala habitat is just not there,” says the foundation CEO, Deborah Tabart (press release pdf). “Previous estimates were around 100,000, but the data is now more accurate.”
Tabart says her researchers have been measuring the loveable things at 1,800 field sites in Australia to come up with their numbers.
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee meets today to begin deliberations on whether or not Phascolarctos cinereus is officially endangered, a process which continues into next year. Bob Beeton, committee chairman, told the Sydney Morning Herald, “the onus is on the science” but not everyone agrees on the numbers.
David Phalen, director of the Wildlife Health and Conservation Centre at Sydney University, told the paper, “We do know that koalas are threatened by habitat loss in Queensland and northern NSW but numbers elsewhere are increasing or stable. There’s a real degree of uncertainty around the numbers.”
Internationally there are also some differing opinions over the koala. While populations on the mainland may be in decline, elsewhere the animals seem to be doing fine.
The United States has classified koalas as ‘threatened’ under its endangered species act but the international ‘Red List’ classifies it as ‘least concern’, noting:
Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining at nearly the rate required to qualify for listing in a threatened category.
Image: Quartl via Wikipedia under creative commons
