Koala numbers uncertain: high in some areas of Australia, a threatened species in other areas

The Canberra Times announced that koalas—the iconic Australian marsupial—are expected to be listed as a threated species in parts of the country from Monday April 30 due to declining numbers.

Northwest of Sydney in Gunnedah Shire, known for its abundance of native wildlife such as kangaroos, echidnas, and koalas, research has shown that koala numbers have declined by 75% since 1993. A survey of koalas in the Shire indicated an estimated 15,000 koalas in 1993, and that recent numbers were now between 500 and 2,000. However, in this area, koalas are not expected to be granted protection. The protection status of koalas is determined by advice from the national Threatened Species Scientific Committee. The committee next convenes on April 30.

The new ruling will be published next week but, based on current data, is likely to list koalas in southeast Queensland as endangered, and koalas east of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales as vulnerable. If animals are listed as endangered or vulnerable, the government could potentially impose conditions on future planning for new mines, housing developments, and logging/forestry operations to preserve koalas and their habitat.

Koalas are predominant in eastern and northern Australia. They do not live in Western Australia, Northern Territory, northern parts of South Australia, or Tasmania. The koala population across Australia is thought to be dwindling because of the combined pressures of development in its habitat, drought, climate change, and from the disease chlamydia. Numbers in the southern parts of the country (in Victoria and South Australia) are relatively stable and therefore koalas in these regions are unlikely to be classified for protection.

The Australian Koala Foundation, an advocacy group, maintains that the areas where the government does not recognize protection were due to coal and coal seam gas interests. The Foundation has, to date, stated that it had no evidence that mining and logging interests had influenced the government's decision-making process but areas containing many new or planned mines and gas fields coincided with areas where it was thought koalas would not be protected.

The Environment Minister indicated that the Threatened Species Scientific Committee continually monitor the populations of native species and evaluate their classification accordingly. The Minister said that he had relied on advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to define the precise boundaries between zones where koala numbers were stable, and areas where they were in decline. He said he couldn't provide a blanket threatened species listing across the entire country when there were many locations where koala numbers remained high.

The Australian Koala Foundation, through its Koala Habitat Atlas, believes that the national wild koala population could be less than 80,000 and dwindling due to habitat loss. Many scientists in Australia do not support AKF’s estimates regarding the numbers of koalas in the wild, nor their reasons for the decline in some areas. The Australian government currently estimates the koala population in the “hundreds of thousands” countrywide and lists it as a priority species for conservation status assessment.

As with most native Australian animals, the koala cannot legally be kept as a pet in Australia or anywhere else. The only people who are allowed keep koalas (with a special permit) are wildlife rangers and, occasionally, research scientists. They have to return them to the wild when they are either well enough or old enough.