The Australian Koala Foundation believes that Koalas are now “Functionally Extinct” as a result of continuous falling numbers.
According to the foundation, there are only 80,000 koalas let in the wild, which also means that they are not likely to produce in the upcoming generation.
So what does “functionally extinct means”? it means that the population of the animals is so small that they no longer effect the environment, it has no pairs left that it could breed more or it can still breed but has no chance of evading a disease (genetic one) because there are a few left.
Since 2010, the Australian Koala Foundation has been monitoring 128 federal electorates in the country, those places that are known to be koala-friendly.
The foundation also says that 41 of the 128 federal electorates have no koalas left.
Please do note that Koalas are difficult to track as they move a lot and have a patchwork habitat.
But one thing is certain, and it is that the numbers of Koalas in the country are currently on the low side.
A study that was done on Koalas in 2016 revealed that there were around 144,000-600,000 koalas left in the wild.
Those numbers are still low if you look at the numbers 100 years ago, experts say that there were more than 1 million koalas in the wild 100 years ago.
So why did the number decrease so fast? It is because of the fur trade, in the 1800s and 1927, more than 8 million dead koalas were shipped to the United Kingdom as a part of the trade.
But why are the numbers still decreasing even if there are organizations that are protecting them and are fighting for their rights?
It is because of the heatwaves that are produced by climate change and their habitats are being destroyed.
According to a research last year, thousands of koalas passed away last year because they were not hydrated, and this was the result of one heatwave.
As a matter of fact, koalas have been listed in the vulnerable list in many territories of Australia since 2012.
Territories such as New South Wales, Queensland, and cities that are near Canberra, the capital of Australia have listed Koalas as vulnerable.
Vulnerable means that their population is currently declining or it means that they are at the risk of entering the decline stage.
The numbers of Koalas in some areas of Victoria and South Australia are strong, but, in some places, Koalas have gone totally extinct or they are going to be extinct.
During an interview, Deborah Tabart, The Chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, said, “I am calling on the new Prime Minister after the May election to enact the Koala Protection Act (KPA) which has been written and ready to go since 2016.”
The chairman added, “The plight of the Koala now falls on his shoulders.”