Hello Koala lovers,
As you probably know, there has been a huge outcry about Koalas being shot from helicopters in Western Victoria in the Budj Bim National Park recently, which used to be called Mt Eccles National Park. There has been a fire and around 2,200 hectares has been burnt. This national park is surrounded by blue gum plantations which are a relatively new phenomena – it used to surrounded by cleared farmland.
At White Settlement 237 years ago, this area and other parts of Australia had greater bush coverage and Koalas numbers were very large. They had to be, because at least 10 million Koalas were shot (and probably more) between 1890 and 1927. (Reference: Koala Manifesto). And worse still, the remaining amount of vegetation in Western Victoria is around 3% if you exclude nearly 200,000 hectares of blue gum plantations and other land tenures.
Many years ago, Mt. Eccles was burnt and hundreds of Koalas were either euthanised, sterilised (the females) or removed with high mortalities. It was quite a scandal at the time.
Framlingham further down the coast also had a fire and many animals were euthanised or shot with firearms at close range.
During the fur trade, the Koalas in South Australia were shot to extinction and in Victoria it is rumoured that only 1000 remained.
The issues we are facing today are a legacy of that time and the Victorian Government will not (and has not ever) taken advice from the AKF and our team. Worse still, they do not seem to have a clear and concise long term approach to finding solutions for these issues.
The Victorian Koalas also missed out on being protected by federal laws both in 2012 and in 2022.
The media are still using the word “over population of Koalas”. In fact, it is an “under population of trees”. Not trees from plantations that will and are regularly cut down but from healthy forests. It is all a shambles.
One of AKF’s proudest achievements is that in 2022, we were able to convince the Australian Government that it should be referenced as “over-crowding”, which is a completely different concept to over-population, which implies the Koalas are the problem, not us humans who created the problem in the first place.
I will also raise the point too that Koalas need a complete suite of trees as a food source and most of the Victorian Koala populations are living basically on one species – Manna Gum so when they burn, well, there is no food. A bit like you and I eating potatoes every day – you know where that would lead.
I am proud of the outcry that is happening so the Victorian Government is under pressure, but we must remember that fire is dangerous for animals and humans. I am hoping there are enough good humans involved to ensure that suffering does not continue.
The question I want to know is, who is watching? What Ethics Committees are over-seeing what is happening, or is it, as I learnt many years ago, no ethical committees from outside the department because when they see a problem as “management”, they do not believe outside ethics are needed?
I will after the Federal election too, be writing to the new Federal Environment Minister (who will be my 16th) to ask for their oversight.
As always, my regards and thanks for your love of Koalas. Deborah
