“Koalas in Crisis”: Is Deforestation and Land Clearing Endangering One of Australia’s National Treasures?

When embarking on my travels to Australia, one of the first things I couldn’t wait to see was a koala. Koalas are native to Australia and have become known worldwide as a national icon. What did surprise me living in Australia is how hard it is to see them. There are multiple koala sanctuaries throughout the country; however, seeing one in the wild is a rarity. This sparked an interest in me to delve into what is going on with koalas in the wild and why we are finding it difficult to see them in their natural habitat.

From looking into this topic, it has become clear that deforestation and land clearing are at the forefront of the declining koala population. Koala populations rely on two key elements: the presence and density of their food tree species and the presence of other koalas.

During European settlement, it is a known fact from historical accounts that koalas were abundant. Land clearing and deforestation since have threatened potential extinction, with a WWF report conducted in 2018 stating that there are only 20,000 koalas left in NSW.

Koala on Magnetic Island.

Much of the land koalas live on is privatized or unprotected, and when the eucalyptus trees are cleared, often koalas are residing in the tree and fall to their death. Many sanctuaries host injured koalas, and when I visited one of the sanctuaries in NSW, one of the workers told me it is often hard to release koalas into the wild once they have been in captivity due to their tendency to become lazy. He further added that they would rather have them in zoos than not at all. This was an extremely sad realization and proves that protection of these beautiful animals is more imperative than ever.