FILE - A baby koala is seen at Wild Life Sydney Zoo on Oct. 14, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Officials in Australia have placed koalas on the endangered species list, bumping them up from their previous vulnerable status, according to a statement from Sussan Ley, minister for the environment. "We are taking unprecedented action to protect the koala, working with scientists, medical researchers, veterinarians, communities, states, local governments and Traditional Owners," Ley said in a statement on Friday.
Koalas inhabiting the states of New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory will be listed as endangered.More than 60,000 koalas were among the animals impacted by the bushfire crisis in Australia in 2020, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature-Australia.Queensland’s koala population has crashed by an estimated 50% since 2001, and up to 62% of the New South Wales koala population has been lost over the same period."Koala numbers have halved in the past 20 years.
Yet new SLATS data shows land clearing in Queensland remains alarmingly high and the NSW Government is yet to honour its commitment to provide robust protections for koalas in areas of high value habitat.