In the Media 2006

Koalas at risk

Gail with Whistler the koala

3 March 2006
Northern Times
By Elise Martin

IN 20 years there may be no koalas in Caboolture Shire.

That is the stark warning from Gail Gipp, manager of Beerwah's Australian Wildlife Hospital .

A rise in injuries, cruelty cases and development is likely to take a heavy toll on the koala population.

Wildlife carers also predict a fall in the number of injured animals taken to them because there are fewer and fewer left.

Ms Gipp said Caboolture Shire was at particular risk of losing its koalas.

“We estimate there will be no koalas with 20 years,” she said.

“Especially because it is a growing and developing area and people want to capitalise on that.

“It can be changed, but you need a lot of support from the people and the council.”

Australian Wildlife Hospital Senior Veterinarian Jon Hanger said land clearing was the major wildlife killer in Queensland .

“A report commissioned by the WWF showed more than 100 million animals were killed during land clearing in Queensland each year,” he said.

“There are two major ecological issues – clearing habitats and fragmenting them.

“There are some parcels of land that are islands.

“Some will sustain animals in the short-to-medium term, but some are so small that they can't even do that, and so we get localised extinctions.

“In places like Kangaroo Island , the koalas are deformed, they are so inbred, but that is what happens when the area is too small for the animals to disperse.”

Ms Gipp said animal cruelty was an issue, after a carpet python and an echidna had been intentionally injured in the shire in the past month.

A car was seen swerving to hit the echidna as it sat on the roadside in Pine Rivers, while the snake had been shot with air rifle pellets in Morayfield, she said.