Australia's koalas edge closer to extinction

Only 43,000 koalas are believed to be left. Photo / AP

Koala numbers are plummeting in Australia and they could be extinct within decades, experts warned.

The population could be as low as 43,000, down from an estimated 100,000 in 2003, says the Australian Koala Foundation, which carried out the biggest national koala survey. It wants the marsupial listed as an endangered species.

The government's threatened species committee rejected a similar application three years ago, but the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, acknowledged last year that the situation appeared to have deteriorated. Habitat loss, disease and global warming are blamed. Increased carbon in the atmosphere is blamed for stripping nutrients of its staple food, eucalyptus leaves.

The committee said yesterday it would consider the issue again and, despite the koala's emblematic status, would make a decision based on a cool evaluation of the evidence.

"There are species which are charismatic and emotionally charged," said chairman Bob Beeton.

"We'd consider the koala with the same level of diligence and dedication as if it were the death adder."

The foundation, which analysed data from more than 1000 forest surveys, says the mainland koala population has fallen to between 43,000 and 80,000. In New South Wales, where the species is already listed as vulnerable, numbers could be as low as 8000, it believes.

"It will be very hard for anyone to walk away from this data," said the foundation's director, Deborah Tabart. "The koala's in trouble."

During a six-day search of a Queensland area believed to contain up to 40,000 koalas, researchers did not find one.

"If you keep cutting down trees, you don't have any koalas," Tabart said.

The statistics are not universally accepted, because koalas are difficult to count. The director of the Wildlife Health and Conservation Centre at Sydney University, David Phalen, said: " Koalas are threatened in Queensland and northern New South Wales, but numbers elsewhere are increasing."